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Indian woman can’t be repatriated till legal formalities are completed: Pakistan

An Indian woman, who says she was forcibly married to a Pakistani man at gun point and is currently staying at the Indian mission in Islamabad, will be repatriated only after legal requirements are completed, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on Tuesday.

Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria told Dawn News channel that case of the Indian woman, identified only as Uzma, is “being heard in court and she would only be able to return once the legal requirements are complete”.

Zakaria said India’s external affairs ministry had requested the Foreign Office “for details pertaining to Uzma’s marriage” to Tahir Khan, a resident of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

On Monday, Uzma approached a judicial magistrate’s court in Islamabad with an application that stated she wants to “go back to my homeland” of her own will. “I would like to go back to my home with full security,” the application said.

“I do not want to go outside the High Commission until I return to my home in Delhi,” she said in her application.

The court has set the next hearing of Uzma’s case for July 11.

Uzma, 20, sought refuge at the Indian high commission last week after she learnt that Khan was already married and had four children.

During the court hearing on Monday, Uzma said Khan forced her to sign a ‘nikaah nama’ (marriage contract) at gun point. She also said Khan “sexually assaulted and tortured” her and threatened to kill her.

Uzma hails from Delhi and met Khan in Malaysia last year. After she returned to India, Khan “forced” her to get a Pakistani visa to visit him, she alleged.

When she crossed the Wagah land border, Khan picked up Uzma in a car and, after travelling a short distance, gave her a sleeping pill, she told the media. She awoke in Khan’s home and was subsequently forced to marry him, she said.

Source: HindustanTimes