Uzma was persuaded by the wife of cleric Abdul Aziz to join Jamia Hafsa. ILLUSTRATION: ANAM HALEEM
ISLAMABAD:
After finding that there had been signs of improvement in the behaviour of a 26-year-old student of Jamia Hafsa during her time at a women’s shelter, a local court Tuesday sent her to another shelter for a week.
Uzma Qayyum appeared before the court of Islamabad sessions judge Nazir Ahmad Gajana on Tuesday after having spent the last week at Darul Aman, Rawalpindi.
Following requests from the counsel for Uzma’s father, the court directed shifting of girl to Benazir Bhutto Shelter Home and Crises Centre, Islamabad, for the next one week. The centre was chosen because also has psychological counselling facilities.
Although Uzma reiterated her previous stance that she wants to live at the seminary rather than her parents’ home, her father Abdul Qayyum observed signs of improvement in her behaviour, which he credited to seven days away from the seminary’s atmosphere and its administration’s influence.
“Until last week, she was even not ready to talk to us. Today she met with the family and also asked for permission to meet a maternal uncle present in the courtroom,” Qayyum said while expressing hope that she would recover mentally if kept away from the seminary.
Quyyum also said that Uzma consented to having lunch with her family on court premises.
Uzma, who hails from Rawalpindi, left a seminary in the same city, where she was enrolled as a student by her father, some eight months ago without informing her parents.
According to her parents, she was persuaded to join Jamia Hafsa --- a women’s seminary affiliated with the controversial Lal Masjid --- by Umme Hassan, the wife of Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz.
Uzma’s parents claim she was brainwashed by the seminary administration into believing that devoting her life to religion is above all, including her own family.
In December 2014, her father filed an application with the Supreme Court of Pakistan for the recovery of her daughter from the seminary.
The SC had ordered the Islamabad’s sessions’ judge to submit a report on the issue.
Tuesday’s hearing was the third in the sessions court.
In the second hearing on January 20, the court had directed that the girl be moved from the seminary to Darul Aman with clear directions to the seminary administration to refrain from attempting to contact Uzma during this time.
Mohammad Haider Imtiaz, the lawyer for Uzma’s father, argued before the court that determination of free will explicitly requires that an individual’s mind is not influenced or brainwashed.
“We prayed before the court that Uzma be given at least one month to think over the issue, but the court granted only one week [at the women centre]”, he said.
He added that Uzma’s family met her only once during her week at Darul Aman because of a delay in getting approval from the court and the strict timings of Darul Aman.
Haider hoped that psychological counselling would help improve Uzma’s state of mind.
Three women representatives of Jamia Hafsa also came to the courtroom on Tuesday with hopes that the court would grant custody of the girl to the seminary, but they disappeared as soon as the bench issued its directions.
Uzma’s father said that if the seminary administration was so interested in helping women, it should contact hundreds of homeless and helpless women across country, enrol them at their seminary and ensure a better life for them.
“Please don’t toy with us any longer by keeping our daughter away from us without our consent,” Qayyum appealed to the Jamia Hafsa administration.
He said he had written letters about the issue to almost all prominent politicians of the country including the interior minister, but none of them bothered to reply.
He said through the letters he had also requested the legislators and government departments to initiate investigations into the affairs of Jamia Hafsa.
“Do they [Jamia Hafsa administration] have special permission from the government to misguide and brainwash children? If not, then why is the government reluctant to take tangible action against them?” Qayyum questioned.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2015.
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