A Human Rights Watch report recently stated that Pakistan’s government should be alarmed by recent reports of trafficking of women and girls to China
Bride trafficking is the term being used by media all over the Islamic country where suspected Chinese traffickers come to Pakistan pretending to be converted Muslims or Christians.
Matchmaking agencies are being run as a storefront for these traffickers. They approach families from poor backgrounds and marry into these families in return for a better life for their daughters in China.
Little do these women know that the marriages are fake and they are forced into prostitution once they leave the country.
Bishop Dr Akbar Khokhar senior vice-chairman of Bishop council in Pakistan told SBS Urdu that this has been going for a while, finally, the issue is being talked about and people are being made aware of this.
Human Rights Watch raised the alarm over "bride" trafficking from Pakistan to China in a report last month. (ALI MURTAZA/AFP/Getty Images) Source: ALI MURTAZA/AFP/Getty Images
"According to news reports on media, some women have returned and shared their stories of what they had to go through," said Dr Khokhar
"After the recent mass reporting on media people are becoming aware of the issue and community organisations are now working on strategies on how to avoid getting duped into such a scam.
"We have informed all the priests in the country if you are approached by Chinese national wanting to marry to be wary and not perform these marriages." he further added.
The Chinese embassy in Pakistan said in a statement last month "We notice that recently some unlawful matchmaking centres made illegal profits from brokering cross-national marriages...Chinese laws and regulations strictly prohibit cross-national matchmaking centres."
Most of the girls who returned back belong to poor families. They overheard stories of other girls during captivity and some news reports have also claimed that organs of older women traded but Chinese authorities have strongly denied the claims.
The statement by the Chinese embassy also warned the citizens of both countries to be careful.
"China is cooperating with Pakistani law enforcement agencies to crack down on illegal matchmaking centres. We remind both Chinese and Pakistani citizens to remain vigilant and not to be cheated."
