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August 29, 2006
UK: 12 Year Old Abducted For Forced Marriage In Pakistan
The girl at left is Molly Campbell, pictured with her mother Louise. Molly is sometimes known as Misbah Iram Ahmed Rana. Her father is a Muslim from Pakistan, who married Louise when she was 16 and he was 23. The couple had four children, and Molly is the youngest. The marriage ended but the father, Sajad Rana, wanted Molly to live with him. Louise has legal custody of Molly, and has had to move from Glasgow to other locations, because of the father's attempts to abduct the child, who wants to live with her mother.
The story, as carried by the BBC makes no mention of the father's intentions - to have her married off to a man in Pakistan who is 25 years old. On Friday (August 25) Molly was kidnapped from outside her school in Stornoway on the island of Lewis in the Western Isles by her 18 year old sister, Tahmina.
She was taken to the local airport and then flown to Glasgow airport, states the Scottish Daily Record and the Guardian, where she was then put on a plane with her father and taken to Pakistan. The father had hired a private investigator to locate Molly's whereabouts. They are now believed to be in Lahore in the Punjab, or Karachi, where Rana has relatives.
Her grandmother, 67-year old Violet Robertson, said: "It's just terrible. Molly is only a little girl. It's an arranged marriage. She doesn't know the man. He's 25. Molly doesn't want to go to Pakistan. She wants to stay with her mum."
Louise's plea for the return of her daughter and her comments about her loss can be found here.
Though Pakistan never signed up to the Hague Conention, a treaty designed to deal with returning children to their legal guardians. However British judges have signed another agreement with the Pakistani authorities, which similarly should address the issue. So far, it has never been tested in Scotland. Currently police in the Western Isles are liaising with Interpol and the Procurator Fiscal to work on means to bring Molly back.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 29, 2006 6:32 PM
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