June 23, 2006	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 26, 1427

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PESHAWAR, June 22: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday directed the city police and political administration of Khyber Agency to recover a girl who, after marrying a man of her choice against the wishes of her parents, had been taken to the tribal area by her family.

A two-member bench, comprising Chief Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Qaim Jan Khan, directed the SHO of the Pishtakhara police to produce the girl, Naveeda Humayun, in the court on June 26.

The bench was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by her husband Naveed Khan, stating that his wife had been kept in illegal confinement by her family members.

The couple is stated to be students of a city college.

The petitioner stated that he and Ms Naveeda had married last year after which her parents had been forcing her to disown the marriage.

The bench on Thursday deputed the additional registrar to recover the girl from her residence in the Sarband area here. The additional registrar and police visited three houses in the locality but did not find the girl.

The SHO stated that he had learnt that the girl had been shifted to the Alamgudar area in Bara tehsil (Khyber Agency).

The court directed the SHO to recover the girl and the political agent of Khyber Agency and assistant political agent of Bara tehsil to cooperate with police and ensure recovery of the girl.

Advocate Ijaz Khan Sabi appeared for the petitioner and contended that the detainee was legally wedded wife of the petitioner and had been kept in wrongful confinement by her parents.

He argued that both the petitioner and the girl were adult and they had the legal right to marry a person of their choice.

He added that they had solemnized Nikah on June 1, 2005, about which their families were not aware. The girl continued to live with her parents and regularly attended college.

The petitioner alleged that when her parents came to know about her marriage, they locked her in a room and had constantly been torturing her.

Earlier, the petitioner, had filed a habeas corpus application before the district and sessions judge under section 491 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The judge, Shahjehan Khan Akhundzada, summoned the father of Naveed who stated that his son was already married and had a son. He added that he was opposed to his second marriage.

The court dismissed the application after which Naveed moved the high court. The petitioner claimed that he had married Naveeda before his marriage arranged by his family.

CURFEW: MNA Sahibzada Haroon Rashid from Bajaur Agency has said that a curfew imposed in Bara has brought life to a standstill.

He said at a press conference here that educational institutions in Bara had been closed and people of the area had been facing numerous problems because of the unannounced curfew.

He asked the authorities to release all the tribesmen arrested during the recent standoff and compensate for the damage caused by razing of business centres in Bara.