8 year old girl abducted and forced to marry a 30 year old man.

 

May 3, 2008 Daily Times-Pakistan

 

* Girl’s father claims jirga ordered him to give daughter to rival
* Rival marries her off to 30-year-old son

 

By Rana Tanveer

 

LAHORE: Ferozewala Police have violated a court order by not registering a case against seven people for allegedly abducting and eight-year-old girl and marrying her off to a grown up man.

 

Daily Times learnt on Friday that the Sheikhupura district and sessions judge had on April 28 ordered the Ferozewala station house officer to register a case on the statement of Karamatullah, father of eight-year-old Sumaira. The petition Karamatullah filed with the court stated that seven people had abducted his daughter and he wanted her recovered.

 

Sub-Inspector Talat Mehmood, who is handling the case, told Daily Times that the complainant had not lodged a complaint with the police, as the two parties in question did not want the police involved.

 

Karamatullah told Daily Times that on April 28 the judge had ordered the police to register an FIR, but when he got to the police station on the same day, the police ignored him. He accused the police of favouring his rivals who had allegedly bribed them (the police).

 

Karamatullah’s petition stated that about 10 months ago his brother, Siddiqullah of Gujranwala, married Shareefan – the daughter of Naseem Khan. He said it was a love marriage.

 

He said that Naseem Khan convened a jirga, which decided to marry eight-year-old Sumaira to Naseem Khan’s son Samiullah, who was about 30 years old. He said that the jirga also forced him to pay Rs 70,000 to Naseem Khan.

 

Karamatullah told Daily Times that he managed to arrange for the money by begging at Auriga Plaza in Lahore. He also said that the jirga forced his brother Hikmatullah to give his three-year-old daughter Asma to Naseem Khan.

 

Hikmatullah told Daily Times that Karamatullah’s statement was correct and that the jirga had ordered the two girls to be given over to Naseem Khan. “However, Naseem returned my daughter to me after 10 days because she cried a lot. But there is a catch to it. I have to give Asma back to Naseem once she is 14 years old,” he added.

 

He said that he would give Asma back to Naseem, as the jirga had decided her fate.

 

Daily Times has learnt that since Karamatullah had taken the case to court, Naseem Khan and his family – including Sumaira – had moved to an unknown location. Fearing action against them by the government, jirga members have been searching for Naseem and his family, but to no avail.

 

In the complaint to the police, Karamatullah named Naseem Khan, his son Samiullah, and jirga members Haji Ameer Alam Khan, Haji Hakeem Khan, Malang Khan, Falak Sher Khan, Lal Abbas Khan as the accused.

 

Haji Hakeem and Ameer Alam Khan told Daily Times that they were searching for Karamatullah’s daughter. They said that they would return Karamatullah’s daughter to him once found. They also denied being a part of the jirga that had originally made the decision to hand over the girls to Naseem Khan.

 

Haji Hakeem claimed that he had sent men to look for Naseem Khan in Karachi, Peshawar, Faisalabad and other areas and that hopefully he would be traced in a few days time and Karamatullah’s daughter would be returned to him.

 

Residents of Pathan Colony in Ferozewala, where the jirga members and accused live, told Daily Times that on Thursday Haji Hakeem and Ameer Alam had ordered residents through mosque loudspeakers not to give information about the incident to any reporter or a non-Pathan. The residents said the jirga members were very influential and resolved all issues within the colony amongst themselves.