Three married women fear for their lives, ask court to send them to Darul Aman

Gulnaz and Sumbul took the bus to Sukkur on Monday when their husbands were at work.

SUKKUR: Haleema is one of the three women who arrived at the women’s complaint centre on Tuesday night, fearing for their lives. They claimed that their husbands wanted to kill them over the pretext of karo kari.

On Tuesday, Haleema, a resident of the Rato Shal village in Khaipur, overheard her husband and in-laws plotting her murder in the name of honour. She packed all her belongings immediately and made her way to the women’s complaint centre in Sukkur.

After a six-year marriage and four children with Ameer Bux Sial, Haleema said that the first time she ran away was four and a half months ago because Sial was physically abusive. While talking to The Express Tribune, she said that she had gone to court and was sent to a Darul Aman in Sukkur but 11 days ago, her husband brought her home and promised not to hurt her. “I do not want to go back to my husband or my parents,” she said. “They are all involved. I want to live in Darul Aman.”

Gulnaz, Sumbul and Halima spent the night at the complaint centre and were presented before Sukkur’s first additional session judge Anand Ram on Wednesday. The police said that the women gave their statements in court and requested the judge to send them to Darul Aman.

The judge told the police to take the women to the shelter.

Sumbul and her sister Gulnaz had eloped to marry two brothers, Aamir and Shan Majeed in Okara, Punjab. They claim that theirs was a love marriage. Initially, the sisters thought that Aamir and Shan used to work as carpenters at a furniture shop. But when their husbands started to bring ‘friends’ over and forced Gulnaz and Sumbul to entertain them, the sisters realised that their husbands ran a brothel. “When we refused to do what they said, they started to hit us,” said Gulnaz. “We finally gave into the pressure and have nowhere to go. Our parents are unhappy with us and refuse to accept us.” She added that Aamir and Shan had been meticulous when it came to using contraception as an unwanted pregnancy could affect their value. “We have been tortured and forced to something we did not want to do,” said Sumbul. “We ran away on Monday when our husbands were at work and our mother-in-law had stepped out of the house to meet a neighbour. We took a bus to Sukkur and want to stay at the Darul Aman.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2012.