Panchayat (in)justice: Man arrested for kidnap of three girls

Daughters still missing, mother says she was informed that one of her daughters would be killed.

MULTAN:

Gadaayi police on Saturday arrested a suspect in a kidnap case filed by a woman who has said that her three daughters were kidnapped after she could not pay Rs1 million compensation ordered by a panchayat over her former husband’s alleged role in a kidnap case.

Ayesha Mai, a resident of Jhakar Imam Shah in Dera Ghazi Khan, had filed a case against three men in October. She said that six months ago her former husband, Irshad Ahmed, had allegedly kidnapped Muhammad Ramazan’s niece, Sughraan Bibi, 15. She said instead of registering an FIR against Ahmed, Ramazan had nominated her in a case alleging that she had facilitated the kidnap.

She said he had also complained to the panchayat, who in their ruling, directed Ayesha Mai to pay Rs1 million to the victim’s family and transfer six kanals of her agriculture land to them. She said she was given six months to arrange the money. If she failed to pay up, she said, the panchayat told her three daughters,

Saima Kanwal, 8, Sidra Kanwal, 5, and Saeeda Kanwal, 4, would be handed over to the complainant’s family.

In October, she said, some men from the complainant’s family kidnapped her daughters, threw her out and took possession if her house.

Talking to The Express Tribune via telephone, Ayesha Mai said she feared for her daughters’ lives. She said she had been told by some relatives, who also knew the complainant’s family, that they planned to kill one of her daughters.

“They have also threatened to kill me. They have been telling me to withdraw the kidnapping FIR,” she said.

She said she had nothing to do with her former husband and did not know about his whereabouts. She said she was staying at a relative’s home and had nowhere else to go. She said she could not move freely because she feared the complainant’s family and the police.

She said now that the panchayat’s six-month deadline had expired, the police were threatening to arrest her in the case registered against her.

She demanded that the police arrest the panchayat leaders, Hafiz Farooq Ahmed Changwani and Hafiz Farooq Aliaani, for their unfair ruling against her.

The victim’s uncle, Ramazan, however, denied that the panchayat had called for revenge kidnapping. He also denied that he or anyone in his family had kidnapped Ayesha Mai’s daughters.

He, however, said that they had nominated Ayesha Mai in the FIR because he suspected that she was still in contact with her former husband.

District Police Officer Chaudhry Saleem has summoned both parties at his office on Monday (today) for detailed investigations.

Station House Officer Malik Javed told The Express Tribune that Ayesha Mai had informed his office that she would only appear before the  district police officer if she was assured that she would not be arrested and that the police would protect her from the complainant’s family.

She has also requested the chief minister to take notice of the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2012.