The sibling switch: 5-year-old given in vani for uncles love marriage

Girl’s parents told police the wedding was performed at gunpoint.

MULTAN:

On Thursday, a panchayat declared a five-year-old girl vani after her uncle married a girl against his family’s wishes.

Police officials said that the panchayat announced the verdict on Thursday and decided that the groom’s five-year-old niece would be handed over in marriage to the bride’s brother.

Thattha Sadiqabad resident Rahat Chaudhery’s brother Sajjad married Khadim Hussain’s sister Nasmim Bibi a week ago.

“The couple knew they were going against their family’s wishes and they run away but Hussain caught them and brought them before a panchayat,” said village resident Saadullah.

A panchayat of over 12 people declared that the groom, Sajjad’s niece Masooma should be given to Hussain in marriage in vani.

“Hussain’s family was standing there with guns and everyone knew that protesting would mean they would kill the groom so no one said anything,” said Masooma’s mother Fazeelat. Masooma’s parents later filed a complaint with the police and said that they had to wait two days before approaching the police because they feared for Sajjad’s life. “They practically performed the nikah under gunpoint. We couldn’t say anything at the time,” Masooma’s father Rahat Chaudhery.

Hussain is 22- years- old and Masooma’s parents said that they decided to approach the police about the case. “Our daughter has been forced to pay for a mistake her uncle made and we cannot let this stand,” Fazeelat said.  The girl’s parents demanded that the chief minister help them get justice in this case.

Locals in the village said that Hussain and his family had threatened to kill Sajjad’s entire family if anyone tried to foil the vani marriage.

“He even threatened that he would kill his own sister,” said villager Rehmat Saeed. Saeed said that the panchayat decision was binding and people had been warned not to approach the police in the case.

“We found out about the case two days later and the nikah ceremony had already been performed,” said Sadiqabad Station House Officer (SHO) Qasim Shaukat, adding “the girl’s parents approached us and we are now searching for Hussain and the qari who performed the marriage but they have both escaped,” he said.

The SHO said that the girl was still in her parent’s custody and they had registered a case.

Thatta Sadiqabad police has registered a case against nikah khawan Qarimullah, Khadim Hussain and members of the panchayat and is searching for their whereabouts.
“We are conducting raids to arrest the people involved and we are housing the family in a safe location,” he said.

* The name of the victim and her family have been changed to protect her identity

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2011.