Hunted, lovebirds arrive in Islamabad

Instead of honeymooning, Asma and Jamshed are hiding away to protect their lives.

ISLAMABAD: So what if two people smitten with love want to get married and live happily ever after. And what if their families want to kill them for that?

The 19-year-old Asma Jamshed left her home in Dera Ghazi (DG) Khan to be with Jamshed Iqbal. Posing stiff resistance up until that point, Iqbal’s family relented, only to try and stage a fake marriage with a forged nikahnama (marriage certificate). The marriage certificate was not authentic because it did not have any witnesses, Jamshed said.

Asma took the drastic step of leaving her house when Iqbal’s family forbid the 24-year-old man from going to DG Khan to visit her.

“It was too difficult for me to live without Jamshed,” Asma said. So on February 2, 2010, she packed her bags and slipped out of her house unnoticed to end up in Lahore.

After failing to break their marriage, Iqbal’s family forced Asma to leave. Jamshed went with her. “It was not possible for me to leave Asma so I also left my home.”

Asma’s family has decided to have them killed. “There is a complete consensus among my family members to kill us over what I did,” Asma told The Express Tribune. So they made their way to Islamabad thinking it would be comparatively safer for them to live here.

The couple are now trying to get their marriage certified. But there are hurdles. The cleric mentioned her father’s name in the marriage certificate incorrectly, she said, adding that she also does not have her National Identity Card, without which she is having a hard time convincing the court to register her marriage.

Meanwhile back home, her family registered a fake First Investigation Report against Jamshed for kidnapping her. The couple complained to the anti-corruption department but nothing was done, she said. Iqbal’s family too has warned the couple of dire consequences.

Iqbal said, “I am a calligrapher but in such uncertain situation I could not continue my work. I don’t know how to making a living like this.”

All they wanted was to live happy together. But now Asma blames herself for their troubles. “Love marriage is  my fault.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2011.