Author: Owais Tohid
Publication: The Christian Science
Monitor
Date: May 15, 2003
When Neelum Aziz visited Kashmir
for the first time last year, the young British girl couldn't wait to explore
her family's home village. But her parents had something else in mind.
Two weeks after arriving in Kotli - in the Pakistan-administered part of
the disputed territory - Ms. Aziz was told she had to marry her cousin.
"[My father and uncle] took away
my [British] passport, money, and other belongings and locked me up," she
says. "I screamed and shouted and kept on crying. My tears dried up, but
my family elders did not listen to me and married me to a cousin of mine
without my consent," she says.
Aziz's story is only the most recent
example of hundreds of young girls who become victims of their families'
desire to preserve an age-old tradition. According to human rights activists,
250 girls like Aziz - daughters of British citizens from Pakistan - were
forced into marriages with relatives in 2002 alone.
For many Pakistanis living abroad,
sending their child to marry in the home country is a sure way to preserve
culture and lineage. But for many of the girls themselves, who chafe at
harsh parental control after relishing freedom in their adopted country,
this clash of cultures is a breach of fundamental human rights. It's a
cultural clash that diplomats and law- enforcement officials find difficult
to resolve, because it takes place in two separate countries and legal
systems.
"[These Pakistanis] opt to live
in the West but want to keep alive the traditions of the East which victimize
women," says Zia Awan, the head of Madadgaar, a nongovernmental organization
that provides legal aid and is a crisis center for women in Karachi, Pakistan.
"Bringing the girls back to Pakistan makes coercion simpler and easier,
as the young girls being brought up in the West are alienated from their
known environment," he says.
Most of the reported cases are of
British-born Pakistanis; about a million Pakistanis live in England. But
activists say girls of Pakistani descent from Norway, the Netherlands,
and Ireland have also been brought to Pakistan by their parents and forcibly
married to relatives.
The practice is not new, but seemingly
on the rise, according to Mr. Awan. "We are witnessing an extremist return
to Islam, especially among Pakistanis living abroad. They perceive the
changing policies of the West to combat terrorism as a direct hostility
toward Muslims living in the West, and we believe that the rise in forced
marriages is linked to the changing attitudes."
In Pakistan, forced marriages usually
go uncontested. "Here girls are treated as animals. They are bought, sold
and even bartered to settle the tribal feuds," says a well known, independent
human rights activist in Karachi, Attiya Dawood. "The girl is a symbol
of honor in our society and is targeted at every level." Her consent in
a marriage has "no importance," she adds.
Some observers point out that forced
marriages are a cultural, rather than religious, issue. Marriage in Islam
is a civil contract, requiring that the woman vocally express her consent
three times in front of witnesses.
"Islam is not a religion of extremism
or coercion. It does not allow this practice," says Anis Ahmed, a professor
of comparative religion at the Institute of Policy Studies in Islamabad.
"There is a difference in the social and cultural ethos in civilization
of the East and the West. Here girls have to take their families and parents
into consideration while marrying, it is not just one person's decision.
So there is a difference between the perception about marriage in the West
and East."
Attempts by women to protest arranged
marriages often backfire. In one widely reported case, Samia Sarwar was
murdered at a women's shelter in Lahore in April 1999. A resident of Peshawar,
she fled to Lahore seeking legal assistance to file for divorce from her
abusive husband and to marry a man of her own choice. But, according to
Amnesty International, Ms. Sarwar's educated and influential parents considered
her request for divorce a dishonor and hired a hit man to shoot her during
a meeting with her lawyers.
Five years ago, Rukhsana Naz, a
British girl of Pakistani origin, was strangled to death by her brother
in Britain. Her crime was that she had refused to stay in a marriage arranged
when she was 16. A court in Britain sentenced Ms. Naz's brother and her
mother - who assisted in the murder - to life in prison. The incident triggered
a movement within the British community against this illegal practice of
forced marriages, and a liaison was established by British and Pakistani
authorities in Islamabad to help victims of forced marriages.
Aziz herself managed to escape her
parents' decision, taking advantage of this liaison. When she refused to
marry her cousin and threatened to return to Britain, Aziz says the family
elders locked her in her room. "I was kept there and provided meals. My
elders would ... try to convince me that it would be better for my family
if I marry my cousin. It went on for almost 12 days, and then a cleric
was called, and i was wedded to a person whom I did not want to spend the
rest of my life with."
Eventually, Aziz sent a letter calling
for help to the British High Commission in Islamabad. Within a few days,
British officials learned that Aziz was already married and being detained
against her will.
Aziz appeared in high court May
2 in Muzaffarabad, the capital city of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. With
help from the British High Commission, the chief justice ordered her release.
"If I am sent back to [Kashmir], I fear they will kill me," Ms Aziz told
the court. "I am told not to speak the truth otherwise I will be shot,"
Last week, she returned to Britain.
Her lawyer, Raja Shafqat Khan Abbasi, who handled 14 cases like hers within
the past year, says she still fears for her life. But, he adds, "the best
part is she is now in Britain, and she can live her life."
