ISLAMABAD: A 10-year-old girl was married to a 60-year-old man when her grandfather sold her out for Rs 100,000. Pathani Bibi, from Nurwal village, in district Dadu, was kidnapped by her grandfather, Muhammed Qasim, and later sold out to a landlord of the same village for Rs 100,000. The father of the poor girl, Amin Phanwar, went to court and presented a petition against his father and the âbuyersâ but finally gave up after fighting for a year in the court. Meanwhile, the respondent forced him and his daughter to leave the village and take refuge in Islamabad. Mr Phanwar told a press conference along with his daughter at the office of the Progressive Women Association (PWA) here on Thursday.
| I'll bet they get a lot of business in Pakland... |
He did not have a single penny to feed his daughter and other children and he had to run from his home to protect his daughter. Phanwar said in 2002 his father got a loan of Rs 100,000 from a rich landlord in the village, Muhammad Qasim, and made a commitment with him that he would let his daughter, Arbab, Phanwarâs sister, marry Qasim. Arbab had already married her first cousin and her father forced her to get a divorce. But when she got divorced Amin stopped his father from selling Arbab to his creditor and arranged her marriage to another cousin without getting money.
| Marrying them to close relatives is better, y'see, 'cuz you don't lose any genes. That's why they're so civilized. |
Phanwarâs father, planned to sell Aminâs daughter, Pathani, for the money he had already borrowed and spent. On June 20, he went to Amin telling him that he was taking Ms Pathani with him to Dadu city on a picnic. He took the girl and handed her over to Qasim and his son, Jaffer, in the presence of a local Jirga including influential feudals Allah Bachayo, Naban Khan and an inspector of the Sehwan Sharif Police Station, Manzur. Qasim and his son arranged a Moulvi (name not known) and registered a nikkah. Qasim kept the girl in a lockup but she ran away home the next day and told her ordeal to the father.
Amin registered a police report against his father and other people involved in the matter. However, he could not convince the court as its proceedings had still to be completed. No action was taken against the culprits. Inspector Manzur, who was a member of Jirga and witnessed the illegal nikah, arrested Amin illegally on May 10 and tortured him with a demand to hand over the little girl to Qasim. Amin was finally released from the jail on the condition that he would hand over Pathani to Qasim. But he ran from his home and approached the human rights activist, Shahnaz Bukhari, at his PWA office in Islamabad. Phanwar said he and his daughter had escaped from many attacks attempted by Muhammad Qasim and Jaffer and that they now needed government protection. âI have nothing to protect my family and myself even I have not a single penny to feed my children under this critical circumstances. I want to meet the president and prime minister to get their help, because I canât go back home as my enemies are following my daughter and me to kill my family,â He said as he was crying.
| Hmmm... Yasss... I can understand that. If the sexagenarian can't have the 10-year-old to warm his bed on those cold winter nights, then he has to take Dire Revengeâ¢. It says so, right in the Koran, someplace. You could look it up. Of course, the marriage probably wouldn't be legal anyway, because it doesn't look like they're close relatives... |
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