In a rare move, the Pakistan Family Court has annulled the forced marriage of a young Christian woman who was abducted five years ago on her way home from school in the Punjab State city of Pattoki near Lahore. Reeha Saleem was a 17-year-old Grade 8 student when she was taken against her will, allegedly by her Muslim neighbour Muhammad Abbas.

“It was raining heavily so I had to take a rickshaw back home. I was on my way when Abbas and three of his friends forced me out of my ride and into their own rickshaw. They threatened to kill me if I refused. I was scared and confused,” Reeha recalled.

The four men took her to an unknown location and forced her thumbprints on a piece of paper. “They told me they would burn my face with acid if I didn’t do as they said. It was later when I was told that I had signed my faith away and was now married to Abbas — my neighbour who had been harassing me and making advances towards me for a long time,” the victim revealed.

“I was forced into marriage by my abductors. They used to repeatedly assault me and keep me locked inside a room,” Reeha recounted, adding that the abuse continued until she managed to escape and reunite with her mother and brother who were then repeatedly threatened by Abbas and his accomplices.

Reeha lamented: “I wanted to be able to leave the house like a normal young woman. I wanted to study and continue my education like other women my age; but they (her neighbours and their supporters) said they would kill me or throw acid at my face whenever they saw me again.” She managed to continue with evening studies, but her mother was in constant fear for the lives of her daughter and younger son every day.

Christian legal advocates Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International took on the case to annul Reeha’s Islamic marriage. “Reeha was of age according to provincial child marriage laws, however, she is not the legal wife of Abbas since she was abducted, forced into converting her religion, and signing the marriage certificate. We have moved for the court to annul the marriage on these grounds,” said ADF counsel Sumera Shafique.

After Reeha testified how her signature on the marriage certificate was obtained through coercion and denied that she had converted to Islam and reiterated her Christian faith, the Family Court ruled this month that the young woman was coerced into marriage and conversion and that the marriage was invalid. Her alleged tormentor repeatedly failed to appear in court.

Her lawyers said no young woman should suffer the horrors of forced marriage, abuse and giving up her faith. They called on the Pakistani government to set the minimum marriage age to 18, to try to prevent abduction of teenage girls and young women. Forced marriages are validated by Sharia law which permits marriage at puberty.

Reeha’s single mother described the toll the ordeal had taken on the family: “We’ve faced indescribable difficulties during this time, including being forced to go into hiding to escape from Reeha’s abductor who kept threatening the family to return ‘his wife’. We also suffered from an abrupt end to Reeha’s education,” she said, expressing the hope that following the annulment, her daughter can resume her studies and return to a normal life,

Globally, 100 million girls are at risk of being forced into child marriage over the next decade according to UNICEF. The threat for girls from religious minorities, particularly in certain parts of Asia and Africa, of also being coerced into changing their religion in connection with a forced marriage is particularly acute. In Pakistan more than 1,000 girls from religious minorities are forced into conversion and marriage every year.  

ADF director of advocacy for Asia Tehmina Arora observed: “Not only are these forced conversions and marriages a tremendous violation of the basic human rights of these young women, but also these women and girls often are fearful for their lives and those of their families, preventing them from denouncing their captors. In Pakistan, where these abuses are prevalent, the government has an opportunity to make a difference by implementing a uniform age for marriage and other safeguards in the law.”

Source: vision.org.au