UZMA ALLOWED TO RETURN TO INDIA
The Islamabad high court has allowed Uzma Ahmed, an Indian national who said she had been forced into marrying a Pakistani man, to go back to her country. Ahmed told the court she was forced to marry Tahir Ali at gunpoint after she agreed to come to Pakistan to meet him. The court assured Ahmed she was free to return to India and would be escorted to the Wagah border with police security.
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad high court on Wednesday allowed Uzma Ahmed, an Indian national who said she had been forced into marrying a Pakistani man, to go back to her country.
Ahmed, in her early twenties, told the court she was forced to marry Tahir Ali, a resident of Buner in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, at gun point after she agreed to come to Pakistan.
The court assured Ahmed she was free to return to India and would be escorted to the Wagah border with police security.
Soon after the hearing, Ahmed left the court for the Indian high commission, where she will stay until arrangements are made for her to repatriation. Sources said Ahmed, a resident of New Delhi, could be repatriated as early as Thursday.
In her comments, Ahmed reiterated through her lawyer that she had been “terribly beaten…tortured physically and mentally and forced to sign on the nikahnama” by Ali. She also reiterated that she had been given sleeping pills by Ali, who sexually assaulted her .
Ali had sought court’s intervention to meet Ahmed in “a free atmosphere,” claiming she had recorded her statement under “duress and pressure”.