Pakistan, U.K. target forced marriages
AP/Yahoo ^ | Aug 29, 2006 | PAUL GARWOOD
news.yahoo.com
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Her father said it would be a two-week holiday to learn about her Pakistani heritage. But the British woman soon found herself captive in a remote tribal village for over a year and promised in marriage to a first cousin she'd never met.
With the British High Commission's help this month, the woman escaped Pakistan shortly before her planned wedding, avoiding the phenomenon of forced marriage that befalls scores of foreign women, including Americans, annually in this deeply conservative Islamic country.
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Malik described forced marriages as "despicable" and contrary to Pakistan and Islamic law. She said the government is committed to improving educational standards and women's freedoms.
An example she cites is the proposed "Protection of Women's Rights Bill," which aims to change a controversial Islamic rape law — known as the Hudood Ordinance — that needs the testimony of four witnesses to prosecute a rape case. Voting on the law is expected within days.
Rape features prominently in forced marriages of foreigners, said Helen Feather, head of consular affairs at the British High Commission. Women forced to wed against their will are often raped so they become pregnant, produce children and, in turn, cement themselves in an unwanted family union. Obtaining British nationality is also sought after by the husband in a bid to improve his economic situation. |
