According to their Lawyer, Nazar Hassan, Layyah resident Kamran and Attock resident Rozina fell in love while they were being schooled at an institution for disabled people in Multan.
“Rozina’s uncle violently opposed the match and she said that he even locked her in the house for several days to ensure she couldn’t leave and meet Kamran,” Hassan said. “I couldn’t leave the house but my maid helped me leave when my uncle was not at home, she accompanied me to school and we left straight from there,” Rozina said.
According to the couple, they decided to get married in court and left their school in Multan for Leyyah by train. Upon reaching the city, they contacted a lawyer and got married on Tuesday. “They were both scared that they would be caught by Rozina’s uncle and one of their friends helped them reach the court,” Hassan said. According to Hassan, Rozina’s uncle also reached Layyah after questioning the housemaid about his niece’s whereabouts. “He is here. I know it because he called me on my cell phone and threatened to kill me when he found me,” Rozina said. Nazar Hassan has arranged for the couples protection and they have said that they had appealed to the court and Supreme Court justice for protection against their family.
Kamran and Rozina have submitted an application for their personal protection in the Layyah sessions’ judge court with the help of advocate Nazar Hussain.
The couple told journalists that they had been threatened several times since they had been married earlier in the week and were afraid for their life. “We are not going to stay apart but it is hard to be on our own without protection given our disability,” Kamran said, adding that he wished to take Rozina to stay with his family but did not want to return to his home while there was still a danger that they would be discovered by her family members.
Kamran and Rozina said that they met and worked together in a group therapy session at the Multan school for disabled persons. “We both knew what the other was going through and so we immediately got closer,” Rozina told reporters, adding that they were two of seven people in the school who were visually impaired since birth. Both Kamran and Rozina can read brail and have worked at the school making furniture.
“We can both earn a living and that is what I intend to do, the moment I am sure that our lives are no longer in danger,” Kamran said.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 30th, 2010.
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