Christian family from Haripur alleges kidnapping, forced marriage of ‘underage’ daughter

It is reported by ‘Dawn’ that on August 12th a Christian couple alleged the abduction, forced conversion and marriage of their ‘underage’ daughter. The girl’s mother, Noreen Maseeh, reported the matter to the police and released a video message along with husband Francis Maseeh. Noreen told the police, through a written complaint, that her daughter, a ninth grader, went missing from her room on August 3 while preparing for her exam next morning. She alleged that a resident of the locality kidnapped her daughter and a local political leader belonging to the ruling political party was involved in the abduction.

She mentioned her daughter was born on January 10th 2007, which makes her only 14 years old. Hence, she is not eligible for marriage, under Pakistani law. Ms. Noreen further states that she contacted the local political leader, who hurled threats at her and her family, and pressured her for a compromise. In addition, the local police station failed to register the ‘first information report’ (FIR) and urged her not to pursue the case any further. The police, allegedly, insisted that her daughter had eloped with the accused and converted to Islam before marrying him in the court.

It is further reported, when contacted by the Dawn newspaper, the ‘station house officer’ (SHO) of the concerned police station, Shafiq ur Rehman, said that the police formally received an application six days after the ‘kidnapping’ incident. The SHO stated that the application was ambiguous as the Christian couple didn’t ‘directly’ name anyone for their daughter’s abduction. According to the SHO, the preliminary investigation showed that the Christian girl had solemnized court marriage in Swabi after converting to Islam of her own free will, but he had not received any documents for it. He further stated that the Christian family was called to the police station thrice to name the alleged kidnapper for FIR registration and recovery of the abductee.