By Muhammad Sadaqat
Haripur: A young Christian girl was kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam before solemnizing a marriage in a court, Haripur, The Reporters has learned.
According to Noreen Masih and her husband Francis Masih, in a video message and a written complaint, filed with Ghazi police station and shared with a local journalist on Wednesday.
The complainant accused a local PTI’s leader and police of being in support of the accused.
Noreen Masih, a resident of Mubin Banda Tehsil Ghazi, accompanied by her husband Francis Masih has through a video recorded statement and a written complaint, said that her daughter Princy was a 9th grader in a local school.
On the night of August 3, Princy was preparing for her next morning paper when at around 12.45 am she went missing from her room. After local level inquiries and search, according to Noreen, she received information that Zulqarnain son of Zahid Iqbal, from the same locality has kidnapped their daughter, the complainant said adding that she approached local PTI’s leader who was also a govt contractor, for help as his son was also involved in kidnapping.
The PTI’s leader assured her of bringing her daughter back within a few days but, according to Masih he failed to honor his words as he and his son were allegedly hand in gloves with the accused party. She said that on August 9, Akhtar Shah told her that her daughter has solemnized court marriage with Zulqarnain in district Swabi after converting to Islam.
Rejecting that her daughter was medically eligible for marital union, the complainant shared Nadra’s registration certificate of children below 18 years, which proved that the Christian girl was born on January 10, 2007 and her age was 14.6 years and she was still minor and could not be married off under the Pakistani marriage laws.
The complainant said that she again approached the PTI’s leader requesting him to help tracing her daughter but he ignored laughingly and instead started hurling threats to her and her Christian family members who were supporting her. She accused him of exerting pressure on the family for compromise. She also accused the Ghazi police for not registering her FIR despite the passage of 8 days and instead discouraged her to stop pursuing the case as her daughter who according to police has eloped with the accused and converted to Islam before solemnizing court marriage.
However, the police have registered a case and started an investigation.
The complainant sought protection of her family and community’s relatives who were extending her help in pursuing her daughter’s kidnapping case.
Meanwhile when approached the SHO Ghazi Shafiq ur Rehman confirmed that Francis Masih has filed an application informing the police about the incident but after the lapse of six days. According to the police officer the application was ambiguous as the applicant did not charge anybody directly for the kidnapping of their daughter.