Chinese are buying Pakistani Christian girls for marriage

Hundreds of women and girls from Pakistan's Christian minority have been trafficked to China as brides in recent months as their country becomes a new marriage market for Chinese men.

Gujranwala: Chinese men are shopping in Pakistan. They are buying Pakistani girls and women, Christians to be precise.

The Chinese are paying brokers to procure brides for them to marry. So girls and women are being trafficked to China and a sort of marriage is taking place. But many girls are coming back, some of them pregnant, with lots of complaints against their Chinese husbands.

The problem has become so serious that a Pakistani minister accuses China for what its people are doing to the poor Christian minority people in Pakistan. "In my opinion, this is human trafficking and the Chinese government is responsible for this if their citizens are doing these things," says Aslam Augustine, human rights and minorities minister in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Saleem Iqbal, a Christian activist and journalist gives the figures, "They (dealers in China) book a marriage at around 150,000 Chinese yuan, which is almost equal to 350,000 Pakistani rupees (approximately $2,500 USD). And here, they spend 500,000 to 600,000 Pakistani rupees ($3,533-$4,240 USD) and the rest of the money goes to the Chinese brokers' pocket. The Pakistani dealer gets around 200,000 rupees ($1,413 USD) and in the end, the family gets around 300,000 rupees ($2,120 USD)."

Often it is the Christian clerics who help the brokers get girls for exchange of money. These dishonest clerics approach poor parents in church congregations and get them to give their daughters to Chinese people saying that those Chinese are converted Christians which is often just clear fraud.