Police ignore arrest order, but lawyers hopeful 13-year-old can be returned to parents.
ISTANBUL, February 26 (Compass
Direct News) - After months of legal deadlock, lawyers in Pakistan said
they have new hope they can restore to her family a 13-year-old
Christian girl who was kidnapped and forced to marry a Muslim. Saba
Masih might be returned to her family, the lawyers said, if they can
legally maneuver around Pakistani policemen who have stonewalled their
attempts to pursue a kidnapping case against the captors. On Saturday
(Feb. 21) a Pakistani judge charged the suspects with kidnapping for
the first time in the seven-month legal ordeal.
In spite of the judge's decision, Chawk Munda village police have not
followed through with by arresting the three Muslims. Today the judge
contacted the local police station and ordered officers to register the
kidnapping case against the three men, lawyer Arfan Goshe told Compass.
He said he hopes police will file the First Instance Report within the
next few days. Attorney Goshe, a Muslim, said the three kidnappers
trespassed onto the property of Yunus Masih, the father of Saba, and
threatened to kill his family and burn down his house in late December.
The decision to file kidnapping charges marks a major shift of momentum
in the case. In previous hearings judges have nearly always sided with
the kidnappers - based on either dubious evidence or threats from local
Islamists - in the Muslims' legal battle to retain custody of Saba and
her 10-year-old sister Aneela, who was allowed to return to her family
last September.
