Runaway brides: Eloped sisters seek refuge in Peshawar

Three newlywed sisters have come to record their statements before a magistrate.

PESHAWAR:

Three newlywed sisters who eloped from Punjab have come to Peshawar to save their respective spouses by recording statements before a magistrate.

Sabeen*, Dua Bibi* and Manahil’s* father Ilyas Khan has accused three Afghan brothers Bilal*, Osama* and Farid Ali* of kidnapping his daughters. The women, however, told the media they left their father’s home willingly after he came to know about their relationship with the Afghan brothers.

The sisters said they eloped with the Afghan nationals and got married in Peshawar on Tuesday.

Farid Ali, 33, said they (the brothers) had been living in Mandi Bahauddin for more than 25 years, in the same vicinity where the girls also resided with their father. The brothers took a liking for them three years ago, but could not express their desire to marry them before the girls’ parents.



The women said their father eventually came to know of their relationship and started torturing them. This, they added, prompted them to elope. At first, they lived in their aunt’s house in Lahore for three months, but their father filed a case with the police accusing the Afghan brothers of kidnapping his daughters.

“We loved each other, but could never think of abducting them (the sisters). We did not know where they went when they left home. The police arrested us and then set us free after 23 days,” said Farid Ali, adding people from the area told them to find the girls lest they are killed.

Farid said they managed to find the girls at their aunt’s house in Lahore on March 24. They left for Peshawar together on March 25 and entered into matrimonial contract on Tuesday. He added recording their statements before a magistrate would weaken the case filed against them.



Legal expert Ijaz Sabi said girls who elope usually record their statements in other parts of the country in order to save themselves or the person they are running away with. Since the Constitution guarantees protection of life and liberty, the statement can be recorded anywhere in the country, he added.

*(NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO PROTECT IDENTITIES)

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2013.