Re: Should force marriage be illegal?
^Good question.
Born and raised in Britain, Sharzia was brought to Pakistan by her parents two years ago, mistakenly thinking she was attending a relative’s wedding. But it soon became clear that she, too, was being married off. Though rebellious by nature, sharzia was willing to go through with an arrange marriage, and was prepared to accept that her parents would choose her husband. But on the wedding night, she started to harbour doubts. “Just before, I went on stage I was given a photo of him-and that’s when I got really upset,” she told. He wasn’t my age, he was a lot older and I didn’t want to marry him. I wanted to jump off stage and run away. But I couldn’t for my father’s dignity and pride."
“Within a few days, he started knocking me around, !she says, " He hurt my leg, bust my lip, he smashed a clay ornament into my head. He just started pulling my hair.”
Court Action
Sharzia was rescued by a team from British High Comission, which managed to identify the house where she was being kept a virtual prisoner and arranged to pick her up.
In 2004 the British High Comission in Islamabad has dealt with almost 100 cases of forced marriage- 20% increase over 2003. Only in 20 instances young men were the victims.
President Musharaf has called for women to be better protected.