[roberto]

PAKISTAN: COURT GRANTS CUSTODY OF GIRLS TO KIDNAPPERS
Christian parents lose daughters because minors converted to Islam; appeal pending.
ISTANBUL, July 18 (Compass Direct News) – A Pakistani couple has appealed a court decision to award custody of their two daughters, 10 and 13, to the children’s alleged kidnappers. The court based its custody decision on the girls’ conversion to Islam.

Judge Main Naeem Sardar ruled Saturday (July 12) that Saba Masih, 13, and Aneela Masih, 10, had become Muslims, invalidating their Christian parents’ right to legal guardianship.

“He said that because the parents are Christians and because the girls told the court that they adopted Islam, their relationship has ceased,” lawyer Rashid Rehman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) told Compass. Under a common interpretation of Islamic law, a Christian cannot have custody of a Muslim.

The sisters appeared in a Muzaffargarh District and Sessions court in the company of 16 Muslim men and were given five minutes to testify that their conversion was genuine, human rights activist Ashfaq Fateh said. It was the first time that Younis Masih and his wife had seen their daughters since they disappeared on June 26 while traveling to their uncle’s nearby home in Sarwar Shaheed, 150 miles southwest of Lahore.

Saba Masih told the court that she and her younger sister had been inspired by Islam and had run away to Muhammed Arif Bajwa, whom the parents say kidnapped the children near their uncle’s home. Stating her age as 17, Saba Masih said she had changed her name to Fatma Bibi, a traditional Muslim name, and married a Muslim man, Amjad Ali. Under Pakistani law a woman can marry without the approval of legal guardians at the age of 16.

“The judge did not give me even a minute to speak with my daughters,” Younis Masih told rights activist Ashfaq Fateh. “My girls have been with these men for the last 20 days; they have pressured them to change their minds.”

The children’s parents were neither allowed to testify nor submit birth certificates and school records as evidence of the girls’ true ages.

“Will she herself determine what her age is?” said lawyer Rehman, who appealed the case to the Lahore High Court’s branch in Multan city.

Justice Saghir Ahmed today summoned the two children and Saba Masih’s new husband Ali to an initial appeal hearing set for July 29. Rehman said he believed the court would only take into consideration the fact that the girls are minors and therefore legally belong with their mother.

After his two daughters disappeared last month, Younis Masih was summoned to the local police station on June 28. Muhammad Arif Bajwa and Ali had registered a case with police for custody of Masih’s daughters based on their conversion to Islam.

Station House Officer Imtiaz Chagwani refused the father’s request to register a kidnapping case.

Muzaffargarh SP Investigation official Chaudry Tajeen said he was unable to comment on why Chagwani refused to file the complaint when Compass contacted him yesterday. He confirmed that Chagwani has since been replaced by Munawar Gulzar at the Sarwar Shaheed police station, but was unavailable when Compass called back for further details.

Younis Masih fears that his daughters’ new guardians have sexually abused them and claims that the men run a prostitution ring. Lawyer Rehman said that though there is no hard evidence to prove these claims, the father’s fears are legitimate.

“Contracting marriage with a minor girl could mean that they want to have control of her with the intention of child prostitution or something else…” the lawyer said.

According to the HRCP’s most recent annual report on human rights in Pakistan, “crime against children, especially kidnapping,” remains a serious problem. In Muzaffargarh district, where Aneela and Saba Masih lived, 24 children were freed in March 2007 from a “mini-jail” at an Islamic seminary, where they had been tortured and sodomized, the HRCP reported.

According to Rehman, religious minorities are an easy target for kidnappers both because they are typically underprivileged and because of religious bias against them.

“Local police and judges have their subconscious mindset that if you help Muslims [in such cases], it’s a very noble cause and a very religious cause,” the lawyer said.

Christians make up less than 2 percent of Pakistan’s 168 million citizens.

Compass Direct News

[Rambo]

i doubt at such young age girls would except islam by themselves, they were most likely forced. What a stupid decision be stupid backward people.

[bluey]

Originally Posted by Rambo

i doubt at such young age girls would except islam by themselves, they were most likely forced. What a stupid decision be stupid backward people.

[Aside from the OP], Child conversions happen all the time, even in this day and age. In fact there was a video of a boy on youtube who converted to Islam at the age of 13. Look it up.

[Rambo]

^ that could happen if they have knowledge of islam. these girls were kidnapped and most likely forced to convert. forcing people to convert is a common thing in pakistan

[jinnzaman]

The fact that the girl lied about her age is a strong indication that something else is going on. If she's really 13 but said she was 17 (in order to get "married) than something fishy is going on.

I also don't see what converting to Islam has to do with legal guardianship. Guardianship belongs to either one's parents or legal relatives or a state appointed guardian. Courts can't arbitrarily appoint guardianship to people just because their kidnappers "convert" them to Islam.

If the facts in this case are as the article portrays them accurately, then this is a terrible legal precedent and I hope it gets overturned and the girls get returned back to their parents.

[psychoteddybear]

wow....just wow.

[sixpakistan]

On the surface of it, it looks like a pretty horrible case. But who knows how accurate those facts are, or what facts have been left out.

Compass Direct is a Christian advocacy/news group that reports on religious persecution of Christians. They appear to be heavily biased against Islam and Muslims (though they have beef with the BJP & non-Muslim govts that persecute Christians as well).

[jinnzaman]

Originally Posted by sixpakistan

On the surface of it, it looks like a pretty horrible case. But who knows how accurate those facts are, or what facts have been left out.

Compass Direct is a Christian advocacy/news group that reports on religious persecution of Christians. They appear to be heavily biased against Islam and Muslims (though they have beef with the BJP & non-Muslim govts that persecute Christians as well).

I did a quick google search and I couldn't find any independent news sources to confirm this story.

Roberto, are you aware of any mainstream or local press that covered the story?

[sixpakistan]

Originally Posted by jinnzaman

I did a quick google search and I couldn't find any independent news sources to confirm this story.

Roberto, are you aware of any mainstream or local press that covered the story?

I couldn't either.

I did, however, find this:

Kidnapped Christians freed
Minorities to be protected at all costs: PM Gilani
Monday June 23, 2008 (0949 PST)

PESHAWAR:

Sixteen members of the Christian community kidnapped from the Academy Town returned home on Sunday morning but the government still transferred the city police chief and his deputy after holding them responsible for the incident.

Lashkar-e-Islam (LI), a Khyber Agency-based militant organisation, handed over 16 out of the 17 kidnapped persons to political authorities of the Khyber Agency that shifted the hostages to Peshawar and gave them in police custody. The minority members remained in the LI custody for almost nine hours.

“The kidnapping of Christians was a misunderstanding as we did not know they were non-Muslims,” Haji Abdul Karim, a leader of the Mangal Bagh-led militant organisation, claimed while defending the kidnapping. He claimed that the LI never took any action against hundreds of Sikhs, Hindus and Christians living in the Khyber Agency.

The only Muslim, Siraj, who was among those picked up from the Christian Colony near the Academy Town, was not released. Others who returned home on Sunday included two priests, Zulfiqar Masih and Bashir Masih, as well as Shakil, Shahzad Anwar, Shahbaz, Yousuf, Salamat, Pitras, Inderyas, Salim Akhtar, Victor and Gulzar.

The LI men had kidnapped these minority members from the Christian Colony in one of the most embarrassing incidents in the history of the provincial metropolis. They were taken to Bara in pick-up vans.

“Certain elements who are using the names of different groups will not be allowed to create law and order problem for the government. They will be dealt with strictly,” NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar told news persons at the Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines. Apart from the recovered Christians, minority MNA Shahbaz Bhatti, MPA Asif Bhatti, Bishop Munawwar Romall Shah, Ishrat Joseph and others were also present on the occasion.

Mian Iftikhar said the government was holding talks with the militants for restoring peace all over the province. The minister said the police officers had been suspended and transferred as the major incident had occurred while they were in the saddle.

The government has sent the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Attaullah Wazir and senior superintendent of police (SSP) Operations Syed Imtiaz Shah to the Central Police Office. DIG Headquarters Mohammad Suleman was posted as the new CCPO while Kashif Alam was appointed as the new SSP Operations.

There were reports about the suspension of SHO Pishtakhara as well as action against the SP Cantt and ASP Hayatabad, which was not confirmed by any senior policeman. “The provincial authorities cannot suspend an officer of the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP),” a senior officer said.

Some of the recovered Christians, during the press conference of the provincial minister, appreciated the efforts made by the police under Attaullah Wazir, Syed Imtiaz Shah and others and demanded the withdrawal of their transfer orders.

Bishop Romall Shah, while responding to a comment by Mian Iftikhar, said the Christians in any part of the country did not need extraordinary treatment but wanted to be dealt with only as Pakistanis.

The Christian Colony from where the minority members were picked up is located close to the posh University Town, where a number of diplomatic missions are functioning along with a spacious campus of the University of Peshawar.

It may be mentioned here that NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti and Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour had denied on the floor of the house on Friday any threat by militants to Peshawar.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, strongly condemning the kidnapping of minority members from Academy Town Peshawar, assured the National Assembly on Sunday thorough investigations would be held into the incident and culprits would be brought to justice.

Speaking in the National Assembly, the prime minister informed the house that due to timely efforts of the government 16 minority members who were abducted have been recovered while a Muslim is still missing and efforts were on to recover him and apprehend the culprits.

The prime minister said the government is determined to ensure full protection to the minorities and increase development budget for their welfare. Responding to a point of order by Akram Masih Gill, he said consultations with the minority members of the parliament are underway to enhance their development fund and assured them that these funds would be increased at least by one hundred per cent.

The prime minister said that he has directed all the concerned departments of the federal government to strictly implement the quota of minorities in government jobs. Referring to the proposed constitutional package, he said the PPP has proposed representation of minorities in the Senate and urged the parliamentarians to fully support this constitutional package.

Earlier minority members raised the issue through points of order and demanded of the government to hold a thorough probe and apprehend the culprits. They demanded full protection for minorities and giving them their rights provided in the constitution.

Akram Masih Gill on a point of order said that around 25 persons of Christian community were kidnapped from Peshawar when they were celebrating birthday of a child. He thanked the government for timely action and the subsequent recovery of 16 persons but urged the government to make sure the rights of minorities in the country were protected.

Speaking on the occasion Shahbaz Bhatti said that he brought the incident into the notice of Advisor to Prime Minister on Interior A Rehman Malik who immediately talked to the political agent for safe recovery of the kidnapped. “On the intervention of the federal and provincial governments the kidnapped persons were recovered and safely returned to their homes,” he added.

He said Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari also took notice of the incident and directed interior advisor to resolve the issue. Munawar Lal said that minorities are over two per cent of the total population of Pakistan and the government must ensure protection of their rights.

He said earlier some members of Hindu community were also kidnapped from Karachi. He urged the government to investigate whether these kidnappings were a conspiracy to malign the image of the country at international level.

End.

___

Pakistan News Service - PakTribune

[LEGALEAGLE]

There's a case from the nineties where an American court granted custody of a 4 year old Bosnian Muslim girl to Christian fanatics who abducted her from Bosnia after claiming that she was an orphan.

I believe that after four years of delaying matters the American court decided that it would be better if she remained with the co-religionists of the people who had murdered her parents rather than being returned to her grandparents

I'm not surprised that Retardo is posting this garbage but at least his sidekick Rambo has now decided that he's joining the game.

For any who may have missed it Rambo is according taking a 'holiday' from Islam. Rambo does your wife know about your 'holiday' from Islam? I think the first person to ask for a 'holiday' from Islam was Iblis

[roberto]

[quote=LEGALEAGLE;185545]

I'm not surprised that Retardo is posting this garbage but at least his sidekick Rambo has now decided that he's joining the game.

Sparrow one day you will have to face the fact that the definition of garbage is not "sparrow doesn’t like it”


BTW, how does the fact that Rembo has joined the game impinge on your surprise?

[LEGALEAGLE]

[quote=roberto;185619]

Originally Posted by LEGALEAGLE

Sparrow one day you will have to face the fact that the definition of garbage is not "sparrow doesn’t like it”

maybe not Retardo but its not just me...I wonder how many people on this forum apart from Rambo agree with you ?

[wheelworks]

Originally Posted by LEGALEAGLE

...

I think you just did a retardo (quote wise)

[LEGALEAGLE]

Originally Posted by wheelworks

I think you just did a retardo (quote wise)

It's perfectly clear who's quote it was and it's not me or indeed retardo it's his account which makes the error.

In any case why are you even talking to me ?

Every few weeks your beghayrat nature reasserts yourself and you forget. Are you a man ? Do you understand the concept of ignoring somebody who wants nothing to do with you ? Do you so lack friends that you must foist yourself upon people who despise you ?

Get lost weirdo.

[Rambo]

Originally Posted by LEGALEAGLE