ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, May 8: India is coordinating with Pakistan for the safe return of a 20-year-old Indian woman who told a Islamabad court today that she was subjected to violence and sexual abuse after her forced marriage with a Pakistani citizen at gunpoint.
The woman, identified as Uzma, today filed a plea with a court in Islamabad against her husband Tahir Ali alleging that she was being harassed and intimidated by him. She also recorded her statement before magistrate Haider Ali Shah.
She told the magistrate that she came to Pakistan to see her relatives and not for marriage, a court official told PTI.
“I was forced to marry at gunpoint and my immigration documents were also taken away from me,” she said, according to the official.
Uzma, who was brought to the court under strict security, also alleged in her statement that she was subjected to violence and sexual abuse by Tahir, said the court official.
She further said she does not want to leave the Indian High Commission premises till she could safely travel back to India.
The court adjourned the case till July 11 and issued notices to Tahir to appear for next hearing. It also summoned cleric Humayun Khan, who solemnised the marriage, to appear in person in the court on the next hearing.
In New Delhi, the woman’s brother met the external affairs minister and requested the Government’s help to rescue his sister at the earliest, external affairs ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.
The woman stated the she had taken shelter in the Indian High Commission of her own accord and would stay there till she is sent back to India with security.
“The High Commission has provided her necessary consular and legal assistance. It is coordinating with Pakistan Foreign Office for the safe return of the lady to India and is also in touch with her family in India on the matter,” Baglay added.
Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria had yesterday said in a statement that “the Indian High Commission informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that an Indian national, Ms Uzma, 20, had approached them with the request to be repatriated to India.”
Tahir was not available for comments but Uzma’s father- in-law Nazir ur Rehman told the BBC that Uzma contracted court marriage with his son before local judge in Daggar, the main town of Buner district in Khyber Pakhtunkwa, on May 3.
“The judge had asked her if she was marrying with free will and she said yes,” according to Rehman.
He also said that his name (Rehman) was written as her relative in the visa application filed with Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. He also said that Uzma knew that Tahir was already married and had four children.
Tahir in his application to local police station on May 5 had said they had come to Indian High Commission to get visa as Uzma’s brother in India had invited them for honeymoon.
He said he stayed outside and Uzma went inside the High Commission but never came back. He had asked police to help recover his wife who in his opinion was held against her will.
According to reports, Uzma’s husband met her in the High Commission this morning but he was not present in the court.
Tahir has also switched off his mobile. But earlier he told media that Uzma was aware of his first marriage.
Uzma reached Pakistan on May 1 and traveled to Buner district in the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtukhwa to marry Tahir on May 3. The couple reportedly met in Malaysia, where Tahir was working as taxi-driver.
The Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi said that the immigration documents state that Uzma obtained the visa under the visit category.
Pakistani authorities have said she did not share her plans to marry in Pakistan when she applied for the visa and expressed her intent to visit her relatives in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, a page of Nikah (marriage) document of the couple, filled in Urdu and available on local media, shows that Uzma D/o Muhammad Noshad is an Indian citizen. She has signed it with full name, starting with Dr (doctor). But only “Dr Uzma” is clear while the last name cannot be deciphered from signatures.
According to the document, Tahir promises to take her to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj pilgrimage for Mehr – a gift from husband to his wife at the time of the marriage. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel