Islamabad, May 14 -- Legal experts, senior journalists, and representatives of religious minority communities have renewed calls for stricter child protection laws in Pakistan, warning that existing legal loopholes continue to leave minority girls vulnerable to forced conversions and underage marriages. The concerns were raised during a media briefing organised by the Parliamentarians Commission for Human Rights (PCHR) in Islamabad, as reported by The Express Tribune.

According to The Express Tribune, participants at the briefing cited the controversial Maria Shahbaz case, where Pakistan's Federal Constitutional Court upheld the marriage and religious conversion of a minor girl after relying on her statement recorded under Section 164 of...