Day: August 20, 2011

LAHORE: Justice Anwarul Haq of the Lahore High Court (LHC), on Friday, allowed a girl, Yasmin Bilal, who had contracted a love marriage, to go with her parents after she refused to live with her husband.

The judge also ordered to confiscate Rs 5000 deposited in the court by Yasmin’s husband, Imran, as security. The judge issued the direction while dismissing a habeas corpus petition moved by Imran, seeking recovery of his wife from the custody of her father.

He said he had married Yasmin of Hanjarwala against the will of her parents. He alleged that Yasmin’s family was not happy with the marriage and her father, Bilal, lodged a case against the couple in Hanjarwala police station, Lahore.

“On the day of the hearing, when we reached the sessions court to secure a pre-arrest bail, Bilal along with 15 other armed men kidnapped his wife from outside the court’s premises,” Imran said, adding that after the incident, he lodged a case against his father-in-law in the Islampura police station. Later, Imran filed a petition in the LHC for his wife’s recovery.

During the previous hearing, the judge directed Hanjarwala police to produce the girl in court.

Consequently, Yasmin appeared in the court on Friday, along with her mother. She refused to go with her husband and expressed willingness to live with her parents. After recording her statement, the court allowed Yasmin to go with her mother and dismissed Imran’s petition.

LHC moved against appointment of administrators: A local lawyer, Rana Ilamuddin, on Friday, moved a petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) against appointment of administrators, requesting that the local bodies’ elections be held at the earliest.

He stated that an amendment in the local body ordinance had been made owing to which the elections were delayed. He submitted that the impugned amendment was in violation of Article 140-A of the constitution and directions of the high court.

Instead of holding the local bodies elections, the provincial government appointed administrators to run the local government affairs, Ilamuddin said, adding that the act was in violation of Article 32 of the constitution. He stated that the government was forcing people to contact PML-N MNAs and MPAs for solution of their problems. He requested that the appointment of administrators be cancelled and the Punjab government be directed to hold local bodies election.

Source: Daily Times

Date:8/20/2011

KARACHI: A free-will marriage couple, Anam and Suleman Shaikh, has demanded of the government to protect them from the bride family posing threats to their lives.

Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Friday, they said that Shaikh’s father-in-law was threatening them for dire consequences.

The personnel of law enforcement agencies, dressed in plain clothes, raided their house and even searched the home of their neighbours, they added.

Anam said that they were being threatened by unidentified men through phones but no phone number appeared on their cell screens. Some times, they were called at the Citizen Police Liaison Committee to resolve the case, she added.

She said that that she made a court marriage with Shaikh on Aug 08, 2010 and later her father brought her to home and said that he would arrange her marriage ceremony in the presence of his entire family but she was imprisoned at home.

Anam said: “On Dec 24, 2010 some people were called to threaten her. They introduced themselves as CIA personnel and snatched her cell phone as saying if she did not sign the divorce paper, they would kill her and her husband.” She signed the papers to save their lives but it was not her intention. Anam said that she got an opportunity on June 18, 2011 and reunited with her husband. She demanded of the government to provide protection to them.

Source: Daily Times

Date:8/20/2011

By A.B. Arisar

UMERKOT: The mighty and powerful tribal heads and their relatives are above the law for they enjoy immunity even if anyone of them commits a crime of a heinous nature reveals an investigative report by this correspondent.

Time and again this is proved by the indifference of authorities concerned in taking an action.

Kunri police, like the rest, is so much under the influence of feudal lords that it didn’t arrest the gangsters involved in the rape of a pregnant woman who also made a video of their crime to blackmail her. Failure to get justice forced the woman to commit suicide by jumping into a well, one day after the abomination.

Behram Khan, husband of the deceased woman and resident of Sardar Rind village, Kunri narrating the ordeal said that Farooq and Sheikh Mohammad Rind of Sardar Hasil Khan Rind village kidnapped his 20-year-old wife while she was working outside the house on July 14. They gang-raped the woman and even made video of their shameful act.

They told her to keep mum or else her video would be made public.

However, she confided to her mother-in-law who consoled the woman by saying that the matter would be put before the elder of the tribe Sardar Hasil Khan, uncle of Sheikh Mohammad Rind.

However, Sardar Hasil Khan also warned them to keep their mouths shut because the culprits were his close relatives.

Earlier, Umer Rind, uncle of the deceased woman told Dawn that nothing could deter his niece from taking the life because she knew there was nobody to provide her justice.

Umer Rind said that they requested the SHO Kunri for registration of an FIR but he forced us to accept registration of the death as accidental .

He said that even the post-mortem examination of the body was not done properly at the DHQ Umerkot because of the support of some hospital employees.

Later, the grieving party filed an application in the court of district and sessions judge Umerkot who ordered Kunri police to register a case of Zina and murder.

Police facilitated the accused who obtained pre-arrest interim bail from the high court, Hyderabad circuit bench.

However, the district and sessions court on Wednesday cancelled the bail and culprits escaped from the scene in the presence of police who didn’t bother to arrest them.

Hayat Khatoon, grandmother of the deceased said that previously they were residing in Sardar Hasil Khan Rind’s village but had to move out from there because of the criminality of those people towards the family’s young girls.

“They didn’t sit back but kept chasing us, finally taking the life of my young granddaughter who was married only 15 months
ago.”

Money is all that matters and Sardar Hasil Khan being powerful and moneyed would not let the poor family get justice from
any quarters, she said disdainfully.

SP Umerkot Munir Ahmed Khuhro said that he had no knowledge about the incident because he took charge only a week back.

However, he said that he had ordered reopening of the case and directed the concerned SHO to produce the accused in three days.

Source: Dawn

Date:8/20/2011