PESHAWAR, Aug 29: A young Afghan woman is on the run to avoid forced marriage by her in-laws. Her husband went missing about six years ago and it is now presumed that he was killed by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
The woman, Behareh Afzali, has taken shelter with a family in Peshawar. She claimed that if her brother-in-law came to know about her whereabouts he would kill her as she did not want to marry him.
The woman, 24, told Dawn that her brother-in-law Haider Rasuli was already married, having three children, and is 53. "My in-laws were forcing me to marry Haider in accordance with the family tradition so as to save their family honour," she added.
Her in-laws, she said, had been trying to trace her out and had constantly been pressuring her parents in Afghanistan for getting her address in Pakistan. The woman, who studied up to 8th grade in Afghanistan, is now not aware of the technicalities of which organization to contact for her safety.
Narrating her ordeal, Ms Afzali said that she was born in Braman area of Herat province and had fled to Iran along with her parents and siblings during the Taliban regime in 1996.
They went to Iran and lived in Mashhad province. Her family comprises 3 sisters and 2 brothers. According to her statement, they stayed in a rented house. Her father is a shopkeeper and sells cloths.
Her husband Malik Rasuli's family proposed her, as her father knew his family. She was engaged to Malik Rasuli on April 10, 1998. She said that her in-laws were rich people and possessed cultivated land in Herat.
She explained that after the Nikha ceremony, her husband started living in her house because he had no place to live in Iran. Her husband, aged 28, was in Iran to get his sick mother hospitalized.
Ms Afzali stated that her husband went to Afghanistan to bring his family along for the proper marriage ceremony (rukhsati) in August 1998. She added that she kept waiting for him but he didn't show up. Her brother-in-law informed her that he was dead, though they had not received his body.
Like other Afghan refugees they were expelled from Iran in June 2003. The family returned to Afghanistan and started living in their own house in Puryan, Herat. Upon her arrival in Afghanistan, her brother-in-law again proposed her, she said, adding that he threatened her with forced marriage if she declined his proposal.
At last she escaped Afghanistan along with her younger brother and came to Peshawar to one of her father's family friend's house. Her brother dropped her and then returned to Afghanistan.
The host family now wants to return to their native country as soon as possible. According to her if they returned to their country then she would not be able to find another living place in Peshawar.
