Christian leaders in Nigeria said they believe herdsmen attacks on Christian communities are inspired by their desire to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam.

Christian leaders and rights advocates, said the judgment could strengthen legal protections for underage girls from religious minority communities.

“We have not heard from her since her arrest five months ago, because we are strictly banned from visiting”, a relative said.

“The situation is undeniably difficult because we are deprived of fellowship. But God’s work must not stop”, says a church leader. 

Gunmen abducted the director of Scripture Union and seven others as they were returning from a Campus Fellowship gathering of the Christian ministry. 

The proposed law aims to curb underage marriages, eliminate gender-based disparities and strengthen child protection mechanisms in the province.

Fulani terrorists raided several churches in Easter Sunday. In addition to the murders, many Christians were kidnapped, and the church buildings were damaged.

The denial of burial rights is often accompanied by threats of violence, forced conversions and harassment.

Fulani herdsmen raid the churches during Sunday school and the worship services, but the Kaduna state government denied the abductions. Eleven of the victims later escaped.

Hopes for justice dim for victims of attacks.

Christian leaders in Nigeria believe herdsmen attacks are inspired by their desire to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam.

“We were framed under a completely fabricated case”, said a pastor who was arrested along with his wife and a Christian family of three.

They were charged with disrespecting the prophet Muhammad. At least 2,800 people were accused of blasphemy in Pakistan over the past 38 years.

Officers evacuated 36 people. District officials issued a statement asserting that the church would not take legal action against the assailants.

The 14-year-old girl was kidnapped at gunpoint from her home. She was tortured, sexually assaulted, forced to convert to Islam.

“Though this law is restricted to the Islamabad territory, it will help pave the way for a similar law in Punjab province, where Christian girls are the prime targets”, said a Christian attorney.

It will raise the legal age of marriage to 18. “It is also critical to protect Christian girls from the scourge of forced faith conversions", says a Christian deputy.  

The assault was the latest in a wave of violence reflecting a resurgence of jihadist attacks in Nigeria’s northeast by Boko Haram.

Rights advocates said it was quite likely that the impoverished Christian was targeted by a “blasphemy business group” that has entrapped hundreds of innocent persons.

Members of different churches belonging to the Sudan Council of Churches were arrested when they were on their way to a thanksgiving prayer meeting of a body known as the Inter-Church Committee.

She was abducted two months prior by a Muslim neighbor who forcibly converted her to Islam and coerced her into marrying him.

Christians were tortured and accused of theft. The Sudanese Christian Youth Union asserted that the accusations were false.

The family decided to keep their faith secret for fear of Muslims of the area, since the father was a committee member in one of the mosques.

Days before, Fulani herdsmen also raided a village in Plateau state and killed 15 Christians.

In just one week, Fulani herdsmen killed 48 Christians, including women and children, many were on their way to church services.