Six-year-old Atiya was abducted by her father and taken to Lahore. PHOTO: DAILY MAIL WEBSITE SCREENSHOT
A six-year-old girl, who was abducted by her father and taken to Pakistan three years ago, is expected to reunite with her mother today the Daily Mail reported.
Atiya Anjum-Wilkinson, who went missing in 2009 after she went to stay with her father, Razwan Ali Anjum, is expected to reach Manchester Airport around 5pm today to meet her mother.
He took her to Lahore and told her mother that she would never see her daughter again.
Gemma Wilkinson, her mother, has been distraught ever since.
'I pray she’s okay but we don’t have any proof that she’s okay and no proof she is even still alive,' Gemma had said. 'It’s been discussed that she could have been sold, but I don’t want to believe it. As far as I’m aware she hasn’t been with any family member so I can only assume she’s with strangers.’
'To know that she’s safe, to know that she’s being looked after, to know where she is. A child doesn’t disappear, doesn’t evaporate. A child is put somewhere and people know - and that information needs to be talked about,' added the mother.
Atiya was reportedly taken into protective custody after she was found in Pakistan this week and her father is in prison in the UK for not revealing her whereabouts.
Gemma separated from Anjum in 2008 due to his possessive and controlling nature, after which he vowed revenge and on her birthday, took her away saying he was taking her to Southport.
He claimed that she was with relatives there and returned to the UK without her, after which he said a man called ‘Khan’ had taken her to Iran.
Atiya, however, was traced after police published a computer generated image of how she would look three years from when she was abducted.
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Technically, in secular India, I can follow any religion. I am a Hindu by birth and by choice, but the secular state does not demand that I stay Hindu. As far as my father is concerned, he may not like if I change my faith, but the difference is I CAN make a choice. It would still be, in the legal sense, MY CHOICE.
@Akshay, India: Will your father give you a right to adopt a different religion
"Gemma separated from Anjum in 2008 due to his possessive and controlling nature, after which he vowed revenge and on her birthday, took her away saying he was taking her to Southport."
Wondering if this Pakistani guy married this woman to get "citizenship". Does he have REAL wives in Pakistan?
Looks like the man saw "Khuda key Liye" and realised that when his daughter hits the teens,she might date a gora(afterall its her father's genes to get attracted to white skin)
So he decided that the best way is to send her to pakistan before she starts realizing her rights and freedom and grow up as a "traditional girl with proper Islamic upbringing"
Mothers also abduct children to England as it is known as the divorce capital of the world as women are awarded relatively high payouts by English judges. Also around 40 percent of fathers lose touch with their kids in England after divorce, in many cases due to parental alienation by the mother, which is not always recognised by English judges, or the cost of litigation to ensure contact is maintained becomes very prohibitive. A way has to be found to limit the damage to children's well being by the actions of parents motivated by greed or revenge. Kids need both their mother and father.
Guys,
Sorry for the misunderstanding.It was a poorly articulated post. I was actually taking a dig at British authorities who might have given private assurances that the girl would be bought up Muslim. They are known for their abject appeasement policies.
@Mard-e-Haq Why should she be brought up as her father? what an insensitive wart you are. Do you think Islam allows what his father did? The Islam YOU follow may say this. Mine does nt. Which means i think her father is not only not a muslim but he is not even human. So she is better off without him. its the mistake of her mother for falling for an a...e like him. @Ich Dien No, not a lot of people will say she should be brought up a muslim. she should go back to hr mother, not to the criminal of a father. Thats it.
Only a mother can look after a child better hence she will be in safe hands religion does not matter.
I agree with Akshay and Hrblake.
I don't think we need to consider what religion she will be or government opinions. The most important thing is that she is a little girl who should be with the people who care about her the most. Not taken away from these people as part of power game. Religion should not be the focus here, the little girls well-being should.
@Mard-e-Haq : Why should she be brought up as Muslim? She is her mother's daughter. She will grow up in a secular society and would decide which religion she wants. Her father is a kidnapper and he broke the trust of the child's mother. He broke the law.
I am sympathetic to the mother, there would be a lot of people saying She is being Handed over to a Non Muslim Woman, but they would conveniently forget that the women in question is her mother. Also they want to criticize anyone they should go and ask the father of child why he didn't think about such aspects when he was about to marry a British lady (or simply a Gori).