City woman in Pak: Won’t return without kids

Police in Pakistan's Punjab province have booked a man for allegedly torturing his wife, a Mumbai resident, in Lahore. “We have registered an FIR against Mirza Elahi on the complaint of his Indian wife Farzana Begum for allegedly torturing her, seizing her passport, hurling threats and illegal confinement,” said a Lahore police officer. Begum and Elahi were both divorcees. The cops are in the process of arresting the man.

Hailing from Cheeta Camp in Mumbai, the woman moved to Abu Dhabi, UAE, in 2006 for a job at a salon. She was earning 5,000 dirhams (around Rs1 lakh) per month. In 2015, she met Elahi during a get-together with her friends. The same year, both decided to marry. The woman had a son and a daughter from her first marriage while the man had six children from his first two wives and this was his fourth marriage.

For the first three years of their marriage, they stayed in the UAE and had two children. In late 2018, the couple moved to Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's Punjab province. “Our quarrels started when my husband bought a big house and a commercial plaza in the name of my children in Lahore as his daughters from his first wife were against this,” Begum said. She further said that Elahi started torturing her and asked her to go back to her own country. “He even told local police that I was staying here illegally. After that, a couple of policemen along with two others came to my house and took me forcibly to the Wagah Border to deport me. I protested and told the authorities at Wagah that my two children were there and my husband wanted to get rid of me. On the intervention of some senior officials there, I was allowed to go home,” she said, vowing that she won't come to India without her kids.

Begum has sought the assistance of the Pakistan government and Indian embassy.