Marriage and conversion: Police, parents harass couple for converting

Abida and Zulfiqar seek protection after they converted to Islam.

FAISALABAD:

A local sessions court directed SHOs of the Civil Line and Batala Colony police stations to stop harassing a Christian couple that embraced Islam and contracted a marriage on Monday.

According to the prosecution, the couple were being threatened by their families and approached the court. An order was issued by additional sessions judge Mr Abdul Rehman Bodla. In the petition, Abida Bibi and Zulfiqar Masih stated that they were sui-juris and by exercising their rights contained in Article 39 of the Constitution, they had both embraced Islam and contracted a marriage on Jan 22, 2011. The couple also stated that they had accepted Islam of their free will but the marriage had offended both their parents and their families had threatened their lives. “Our parents have been threatening us with the support of Civil Lines and Batala Colony police and we approached the court against them,” Masih said.  “Our parents have been trying to pressure us to get a divorce and the police have been helping them,” Abida Bibi said.The court summoned the police as well as the couples’ parents in the court and got both parties to sign a binding undertaking that they would no longer interfere with the couple.

Names have been changed to protect identity

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2011.