Author: Qaiser Felix
Publication: Asia News
Date: July 16, 2008
URL: http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=12771&size=A
The district of Muzaffargarh rules in favour
of the Muslims, rejecting the request from the family that wants to bring
home the two sisters - 13 and 10 years old - kidnapped last June 26. Christian
associations charge that they could end up as prostitutes.
District judge Mian Muhammad Naeem, of the
section of Muzaffargarh, has ruled that the two Christian sisters "have
converted in a legitimate manner to Islam", and for this reason they
cannot be "restored to their family of origin". Setting aside the
request from their father to regain custody of his daughters, the judge also
admitted the "validity" of the marriage of the girls to two Muslims.
Saba Younas, aged 13, and her sister Anila
were kidnapped last June 26 in the village of Chowk Munda, in the province
of Punjab, where they had gone to visit their uncle, Khalid Raheel. This is
the same uncle who in recent days reported their kidnapping, asking for help
from news organisations and human rights groups. According to Raheel's account,
a Muslim fruit vendor named Muhammad Arif Bajwa kidnapped the girls, and then
handed them over to a friend, Falak Sher Gill, who then organised the marriage
between his own son and the older of the Christian sisters, Saba. In court,
moreover, father and son both stressed the "complete willingness of the
girl to contract marriage".
The girls' uncle does not conceal his preoccupation,
and denounces to AsiaNews that the Muslims involved in the kidnapping are
acting as a "gang", recruiting the girls in order to "make
them work in a bordello". This alarm has also been heard by the Catholic
commission for justice and peace (NCJP) in the country, which confirms the
words of Khalid Raheel: the kidnappers are believed to be human traffickers
linked to prostitution, known to the police and under the protection of some
local politicians. "For these unscrupulous people", charges Naeem
Asghar, local coordinator of the NCJP, marriage is a pretence in order to
control the girls, run their lives and exploit them for their own business
purposes".
The Catholic community continues to uphold
the cause of Saba and Anila, and promises that the family will not be left
to itself. Expressing the hope that the girls will be brought back home, the
coordinator of the NCJP emphasises that "an appeal will soon be presented
to the high court of Multan, to contest the decision of the district judge"
and have the girls "restored to their parents".
