| It had all the elements of a mega TV serial — love, a runaway
marriage, a first wife, parents with connections in high places, and to
top it all, a religious divide and a courtroom drama. But the other reason why the story of Neelam Ludhani and Amjad Shahzad evoked interest is the running debate in Pakistan over abductions and forced conversions of Hindus, especially young women and underaged girls, to Islam. The manner in which the court resolved the drama has raised hopes that it could have a positive impact for the situation of women in Pakistan, irrespective of religion, aside from the signals it has sent out on the issue of conversions. Neelam, a 21-year-old Hindu from Sindh, married Amjad last month after converting to Islam. She said she changed her religion of her own free will to wed Amjad. The father of the young woman alleged she had been abducted and converted forcibly. At another time he said she was "mentally retarded." Last Thursday, Neelam, dressed in a white and black salwar-kameez, belied her demure appearance by speaking out in a clear and confident voice before a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court that she be allowed to go with Amjad. Standing beside her was her father, Misri Ludhani, a well-connected government official in Karachi, who now said he had no objection to her conversion to Islam but was worried about her future. He suspected her husband, who is already married and has a son by his first wife, would dump her soon. The court ordered that Neelam be allowed to live with her husband. But more extraordinarily, the bench obtained a guarantee from Amjad's family that they would look after her "properly." The court also spelt out what it meant by "properly." "Maybe not exactly the same standard as she was used to in her parents home but whatever you can do," suggested Chief Justice Ifthikar Mohammed Chaudhary to Amjad's father, Abdul Sattar. Standing before the judges in Court No.1 of the imposing marble Supreme Court complex, Sattar — after some haggling — agreed to give the court a bank bond for Rs.15 lakh within a month as a guarantee for Neelam's welfare. The judges also asked the construction company owner to transfer a share of his property to Neelam to secure her future, and provide a separate house for the couple. And, he directed the area police to give fortnightly updates on how she was being treated by her husband. Waving aside protests by the lawyer defending Neelam, her husband and his family that "this will be too much" and that "Muslims do not give so much even to their daughters," the Chief Justice, exercising the court's "parental jurisdiction," said the case could not be viewed in strict legal terms. The secretary-general of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, I.A. Rehman, told The Hindu that the court direction underlined the "difficult" nature of such cases. It was difficult to make out between voluntary and forced conversions. Even if a woman had been converted forcibly, she would be afraid to make a complaint, he said. Added to this was the absence of any law to punish those who use coercion to carry out conversions, and the prohibition on converting out of Islam. Although Neelam had declared she was voluntarily converting to Islam, the court had done well by taking into account all possibilities, he said. "[The court order] underlines the vulnerability of the woman in such a situation. It is an implicit confirmation that such women are vulnerable," Mr. Rehman said. In recent months, the issue of conversions has been a subject of hot debate, including in the National Assembly, following reports that a number of young women from the Hindu minority in Sindh province were converted to Islam against their will. It is estimated that slightly less than two per cent of Pakistan's 146 million population is Hindu. Sindh has the largest number of Hindus. Describing the court ruling as "very unusual" and "very heartening," Mariana Babar, a respected Pakistani journalist who was among the first to write about forced conversions in Sindh, said it sent out several positive signals. "It appears that the Supreme Court has shown some activism at a time when the Pakistan does not have a soft image with regard to how it treats its minorities," said Babar. "This will negate and discourage the trend of forcible conversions." Aside from that, she said it also had significance for women who had not converted, but had married against their family wishes. The practice of "honour" killings — targeting women who have married against the wishes of their parents, and their husbands — is widely prevalent in Pakistan. Ms. Babar said the case also sent out hope to women that the court could safeguard their economic rights. There was one last direction from the judges to Neelam's husband's family, and that too was unprecedented. Ignoring an earlier argument by their lawyer that Neelam had no ties with her parental family anymore because they belonged to a "non-book" faith, the court ordered that Amjad's family must facilitate visits by Neelam to her parents' home in Karachi. Following the court ruling in her favour, Neelam told journalists outside the court that despite all the bad blood of the last month with her parents, she hoped to re-establish contact with them some day. "Parents are parents," she said. Source: The Hindu. |