by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
SHEIKHUPURA, PAKISTAN (Worthy News) – A Christian family in Pakistan’s Punjab province has appealed for the return of their teenage son, saying he was pressured and forced to convert to Islam while working at a factory.
Sagar Masih, 15, was working at a factory in Sheikhupura when Muslim adults allegedly pressured him to abandon Christianity and embrace Islam.
His family claims the teenager was forced to perform Islamic prayers five times a day before his reported conversion.
The family said that when relatives approached police, officers told them Sagar was now Muslim and that they could pursue the matter through the courts.
However, relatives allege that Sagar indicated at the police station that he wanted to return home with them but was subsequently pressured to remain separated from his family.
TEEN WANTS RETURN
Worthy News could not independently verify the circumstances surrounding his reported conversion or the family’s account of events at the police station.
Pastor Imran Amanat, head of Christian advocacy group LEAD Ministries, told Worthy News that authorities should ensure Sagar’s safety and investigate whether coercion was involved.
“Sagar is a young boy, and his safety must come first,” Amanat said, calling for a transparent and impartial investigation.
He stressed that the teenager should be allowed to speak privately and freely, without people present who could influence what he says.
The case comes amid longstanding concerns about the treatment of Christians in Pakistan, especially those living in poverty and depending on others for work and income.
CHRISTIANS FACE PRESSURE
Many Pakistani Christians work in low-paid jobs, including in factories and brick kilns, where Christian groups say workers have faced discrimination, exploitation and attempts to make them abandon their faith.
Pakistan ranks eighth on the 2026 World Watch List of Christian advocacy group Open Doors, which annually ranks 50 countries where Christians face the most severe persecution for their faith.
Open Doors says Christians in Pakistan face challenges ranging from everyday discrimination to threats of deadly violence, while the country’s blasphemy laws have also been used to intimidate Christians and other religious minorities.
Christian rights activists say Sagar Masih’s situation underscores how dependence on employers for income and basic necessities can leave workers and their families vulnerable to religious coercion.
“The case raises a fundamental question,” Christian advocate Sardar Mushtaq Gill told Worthy News.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM QUESTION
“Can a minor truly exercise freedom of religion if he is allegedly subjected to pressure and influence from adults in a workplace environment?”
Gill and other activists stress that freedom of religion includes both the right to change one’s faith and the right to remain in it without threats or intimidation.
Amanat appealed to Christians and others to pray for Sagar and his family as they seek his return.
The family is demanding that authorities protect the teenager and establish whether his reported conversion was voluntary or the result of coercion.
For Sagar’s mother, the appeal was more immediate: “Bring my son home.”
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
