Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Myra Imran
Islamabad
Mystery shrouds the circumstances under which a couple declared Kari by their local community for marrying of their own will was taken to their native District Gothki from Islamabad in one day.
In hiding in the capital for the past six months to seek help from the Chief Justice and human rights groups, Ameer Abbas Mehar and Rukhsana Bibi disappeared mysteriously from Sector G-9, Islamabad, on Saturday. The couple is now in the custody of police in Gothki, an area known for Karo Kari traditions.
Their counsel advocates Aftab Alam and Omer Farooq were finally able to contact Rukhsna who was found to be at the Gothki Police Station. She told the lawyers that their life was in grave danger and the Gothki Police took them to Gothki. She said that they would appear before the Supreme Court in Karachi today.
On the other hand, the Margalla Police Station in Islamabad has no knowledge of any such activity having been undertaken by Gothki Police. “No such action can be under taken by the police of any other city in the jurisdiction of Islamabad Police without its permission,” said SHO Margalla Police Station Muhammad Hussain Lasi. Lasi said that it was good that the couple was in police custody.
Advocates Aftab Alam and Omer Farooq have filed a complaint about the disappearance of the couple with Margalla Police Station. “They never wanted to go to Sindh as they knew that they will get killed,” said Aftab. When contacted, in charge Gothki Police Station Alher Khan Abbasi came up with another mysterious story. He said that they caught the couple in Gothki and never went to Islamabad. When asked if they caught them from their homes, he said that “no we caught them from outside their homes.” He said that he had no idea how the couple arrived in Gothki. “We caught them only to obey the orders of the Supreme Court to produce them before the court.”
When asked to let ‘The News’ talk to Rukhsana, Alher Khan said that the couple was already in Karachi where they will appear before the Supreme Court. Munchee Ramazan at Gothki Police Station also confirmed that the couple was with them. “The whole area was on the verge of a big fight only because of a girl,” he said while talking to ‘The News’ on telephone. He said that they also have a case filed against the couple by Ameer’s brothers. “Rukhsana’s family is not letting Ameer’s family to harvest their crops or even come out of their houses only because of what the girl has done,” said Ramazan.
Rukhsana Bibi and Ameer Abbas Mehar belong to village Milan Mehar in Sindh’s District Gothki. Their community declared them ‘Kari’, as they decided to marry against the decision of the Sardars taken about 20 years ago. ‘Karo Kari’ or false allegations of illicit relationship, is the worst form of honour killing that prevails in interior Sindh.
According to statistics collected by Aurat Foundation, there were 475 cases of honour killing reported in 2008, of which 244 took place in Sindh. The story behind the marriage has its roots in another inhuman practice prevalent in the under developed parts of almost all provinces in which a girl is given in marriage contract to the aggrieved party to settle disputes.
In a similar exchange, Rukhsana’s hand was given to an already married member of another family in exchange of a murder committed by one of Rukhsana’s uncles. She was only three at that time. The decision taken by the then Sardar, Ali Gohar, had helped stop fighting between rival groups. Later, when Rukhsana got educated and was able to understand what happened to her, she asked her family to cancel the marriage. As expected, her brothers refused and forced her to obey the decision of the Sardar. Rukhsana was determined to take matters into her own hands. Her case became so famous in that area that no one dared propose to her, because everyone was aware of the consequences.
In one of their interviews with ‘The News’, the couple mentioned that in their area there is no law but only what the sardars want. “Even the police station follows their directives,” they said. Ameer Abbas said the lives of his family members are in grave danger and that they have stopped stepping out of their homes. “I proposed to Rukhsana because I knew that no one else was going to marry her,” he said pointing out that marrying her simply meant putting lives in danger.
When Rukhsana came to Bahawalnagar to attend a marriage in November 2008, the two went for court marriage. Later, they returned to their village where Rukhsana tried to convince her brother to accept their ‘nikah’ but they never took her seriously. Last Ramazan, they decided to marry her as per the orders of sardars. Rukhsana told ‘The News’ that they had no choice but to run away.
In Islamabad, the couple kept on moving from one hiding place to the other just to hide from the community people who, they alleged, were staying at the residence of Sardar Muhammad Buksh Meher in Islamabad. First they stayed in G 6 from where they had to run away after they were traced. They said that people from their area were continuously following them. The two approached the Women Crisis Centre but these centres only cater to women.
Rukhsana decided to stay with Ameer saying that his life was equally in danger. Despite knocking every possible door, the couple failed to receive any help or protection from the government during their stay in Islamabad. Their financial condition went from bad to worse. They kept contacting ‘The News’ to give updates on their condition. One of the senior correspondents tried to initiate mediation for the couple through an influential MNA from Sindh, but he said that it was almost impossible keeping in mind the strict tradition.
The last message ‘The News’ received from Rukhsana reflected the couple’s desperation. She said that she saw no solution but to commit suicide. The couple also met Federal Minister for Human Rights Syed Mumtaz Alam Gillani to seek protection but it turned out to be a disappointment as the ministry officials said that they could not even ensure their own security, how could they provide them protection, a source told ‘The News.’
Their counsels Aftab Alam and Omer Farooq told the scribe that Ameer visited them a day before their disappearance. He told them that their life was in grave danger. “Ameer said that the opposing party has filed a case against them in the Karachi Supreme Court bench alleging that Ameer has killed Rukhsana. “He said that the case has been filed so that they could be taken to that area on legal grounds to produce them before the court,” said Aftab Alam. The same day, the lawyers received a message from the couple informing them that their community had traced them. “Since then, there was no trace of the couple until regional news channels aired the news that Gothki police had caught them,” he added.
Now when the influential sardars have managed to win the first stage by bringing the couple to the areas they wanted under the protection of the police station they virtually run, lives of Ameer and Rukhsana is in the hands of the protectors of this centuries-old tradition. It seems the tradition will prevail yet again.
Source
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I think their tradition is so strong.
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