HYDERABAD, April 22: Aruna Moazzam and her husband Moazzam Ali, who reached home here on Saturday from Okara, have appealed to the government to send them abroad, saying they still feared her parents could cause harm to their lives.

Soon after their arrival at their Latifabad residence amid tight security, Aruna said her parents should be held responsible if any harm came to her or her husband.

Moazzam and his elder brother Junaid complained that Okara police had subjected them to torture.

A contingent of police has been deployed outside Moazzam’s residence in Mir Fazal Town, Latifabad unit No 9. Earlier, B-section police escorted the couple to their residence after receiving them at Hala when they reached there from Okara by road.

Touching scenes were witnessed when the couple entered their home. Moazzam’s mother, younger brother Waqar, sister, sister-in-law and children hugged the couple with tearful eyes.

“We appeal to the government to send us to some foreign country to ensure safety to our lives,” said Aruna.

She said two provincial ministers of Punjab were backing her father and added that “if I go missing or my husband suffers any harm, then my parents should be held responsible”.

According to ASI Arshad Rind of the B-section police, Okara Saddar police accompanied the couple to the Sindh-Punjab border at Kamo Shaheed. The Sindh police got custody of the couple after Aruna recorded her statement under section 164CrPC before a civil judge, stating that she had not been abducted, as alleged by her father Atta Mohammad, a retired sessions judge.

Appreciating the media’s role in the case, Aruna said that had the matter been delayed or the remand extended by Punjab’s judicial magistrate then Moazzam would have been tortured to obtain his signatures on divorce papers.

Moazzam said the FIR lodged by his in-laws was false. “I cannot explain how happy I am,” he said.

Junaid said that he and Moazzam were blindfolded and tortured by Constable Saeed of the Okara Saddar police.

“The constable kept torturing and threatening us to divorce Aruna because her family is financially very strong,” Junaid said. He praised policewomen of Hyderabad for objecting to the torture by Punjab police.

In a related development, Judicial Magistrate-III Malik Mohammad Akhtar was suspended under directives of the Sindh High Court for remanding Moazzam, Aruna and Junaid in custody of the Okara Saddar police on Thursday.