Sisters running for life sent to crisis centre
Punjab police chief told to investigate the case
PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Two sisters, who fled their Gujranwala home after one of them survived an attempt to be killed for ‘honour’, was sent to a crisis centre on Monday.
This was directed on Monday by a single-member bench of the Islamabad High Court, comprising Chief Justice Ather Minallah, as he heard a plea for state protection by the two women.
The petitioner’s counsel said that FM* had married a man in the federal capital on January 10 against the wishes of her family.
However, families of the wife and the husband want the couple to get divorced.
2% of honour killing suspects convicted
The petitioner’s husband, YM*, is currently being held hostage by a local jirga in Lodhran. On the other hand, FM survived an assassination attempt from her family, escaping with 30 stitches to her head, the counsel added.
Meanwhile, the government lawyer pleaded with the court to move the case to Punjab as all parties hailed from there.
However, the court asked what the government has done to protect the lives of the couple, adding that girls cannot be abandoned if the Punjab government will not shelter them. Police officers told the court that they had taken the sisters to a hospital for a medical exam and subsequently escorted them to a shelter home.
*Names withheld to protect identity
Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2020.
Two sisters, who fled their Gujranwala home after one of them survived an attempt to be killed for ‘honour’, was sent to a crisis centre on Monday.
This was directed on Monday by a single-member bench of the Islamabad High Court, comprising Chief Justice Ather Minallah, as he heard a plea for state protection by the two women.
The petitioner’s counsel said that FM* had married a man in the federal capital on January 10 against the wishes of her family.
However, families of the wife and the husband want the couple to get divorced.
2% of honour killing suspects convicted
The petitioner’s husband, YM*, is currently being held hostage by a local jirga in Lodhran. On the other hand, FM survived an assassination attempt from her family, escaping with 30 stitches to her head, the counsel added.
Meanwhile, the government lawyer pleaded with the court to move the case to Punjab as all parties hailed from there.
However, the court asked what the government has done to protect the lives of the couple, adding that girls cannot be abandoned if the Punjab government will not shelter them. Police officers told the court that they had taken the sisters to a hospital for a medical exam and subsequently escorted them to a shelter home.
*Names withheld to protect identity
Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2020.