Man says the two could not live without each other. STOCK IMAGE
Police on Friday foiled an attempt by a Jirga to marry off a girl by force and arrested members of the council for forcing her to wed a married taxi driver.
SP Rural Shafiullah Gandapur, while talking to The Express Tribune, said that Ehsana Bibi, 28, had eloped with taxi driver Hakim Shah of Mulagori Khyber Agency.
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“She had been told by Hakim Shah that he was unmarried and had agreed to elope with him. Bibi was shifted to Khyber Agency Mulagori and was kept in the house of Imran and Gul Haji, friends of Shah,” said Gandapur. He added that she resisted the marriage after discovering that he was already married and called her brother to take her home.
“The brother approached Saadullah Jan, a local elder, who summoned a jirga which was attended by other tribal elders,” said the police officer. The jirga decided that since the girl had eloped with the man of her free will, therefore, she should be married to Hakim Shah, he said.
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The SP said that when the police got wind of the issue they asked the political agent to recover the girl from the custody of Hakim Shah’s friends and hand her over to police. He added that after the girl was handed over to the police she was produced in court where she refused to marry the man.
“Later, she was safely returned to her brother and the local elders guaranteed that she would not be harmed in any way,” added the SP.
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