Sehrish, according to Qayyum, was enrolled at the seminary in 2006 — well before the army operation a year later. ILLUSTRATION: ANAM HALEEM
If the claim of Sheikh Mohammad Qayyum, father of a “brainwashed” student of Jamia Hafsa, is considered, then the seminary houses a number of girls without the consent of their parents.
Qayyum says through mutual friends he tried to convince two such families to raise their voice against the seminary administration for brainwashing and forcibly keeping their loved ones against parents’ permission.
“Families refuse to go to court,” Qayyum said, adding the parents were no more interested in reclaiming custody for a number of reasons, including financial constraints.
He said one such father, Altaf Mehboob, belonging to AJK, refused to fight the case saying the family had surrendered custody of their daughter to the seminary administration ‘in the name of God’.
Sehrish, according to Qayyum, was enrolled at the seminary in 2006 — well before the army operation a year later.
After the operation, when the parents refused to send their daughter back to the seminary, she left home and took refuge at the seminary.
The rest of the story is the same as that of another student, Uzma, whose parents were refused a meeting with their daughter.
Later, Qayyum says, Sehrish married a student of the same seminary following directions of the seminary administration. She is the mother of two children today and teaches Quran to other students of the seminary.
She never returned home and only her mother is allowed to meet her but that too within the walls of the seminary and in the presence of administration officials.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 18th, 2015.
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