CHARSADDA: A 13-year-old Afghan girl residing in Chowki, Charsadda, was rescued from a life of forced marriage just in time. An official of Tangi police said they were on duty when they saw some people taking a girl in a vehicle. She was crying for help. The official said they followed the vehicle and arrested everybody in it. During interrogation, Memona, 13, revealed that her family had decided her future before she was even born. The girl said her stepbrother Sher Wali was accused of killing the wife of Qadeem Gul, an Afghan national. Seventeen years ago, a jirga was held to resolve the dispute and it was decided a girl from Sher Wali’s family would be given to the deceased woman’s son in swara, she said. Memona added on Monday, jirga elders Said Alam, Raz Muhammad and Saz Muhammad came to her house to see the commitment through. She said her mother Laila and stepbrothers Afzal Khan, Zamin and Khanzada handed her over to a person of her father’s age. The police have arrested Memona’s mother and brothers.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2014.
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