May 02, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 25, 1429

DERA GHAZI KHAN, May 1: The surge in trade of ‘ghost brides’ has reverberated across the district. These ‘brides’, with the connivance of a gang and police, have robbed dozens of people with whom they remained in wedlock for a few months in return of certain amount of money and later ditched them for Darul Aman or anther ‘groom’.

Since 2002, more than two dozen ‘brides’ have been handed over to their ‘heirs’ by the magistrate or local police.

A couple of weeks ago, a woman named Sadia was sent to Darul Aman to be handed over to her heirs. She was rescued by Border Military Police when she was being smuggled to Balochistan via Dera-Quetta Road.

She says her sister Nadia and she were kidnapped from Data Sahib in Lahore where they had come to offer prayers. Their kidnappers brought them to the shrine of Sakhi Sarwar, 30 kilometer west of DG Khan, from where they were driven to a ‘sales point-cum-brothel’ in Khosa Baloch, which falls in the jurisdiction of Sadar police station. Here gangsters sold them for Rs300,000 to local people for marriage.

Sakhi Sarwar police also rescued Shazia who was being smuggled to Balochistan. She also tells the same story about her alleged kidnapping and sale.

Dawn encountered around a dozen of such ‘escaped brides’ at Darul Aman from time to time and all of them had the same story to tell. They said they were kidnapped from Data Sahib’s shrine in Lahore. Their kidnappers brought them to the shrine of Sakhi Sarwar and sold them to the local people for marriage. A woman’s price would range from Rs100,000 to Rs150,000, depending upon her looks and age and potential groom’s economic standing.

Among the buyers, mostly belong to local tribal society or those who have no match in their family. Most of the sold women manage to flee from the clutches of their buyer-turned-husband and contact police which later handed them over to Darul Aman. Then, their ‘heirs’ turn up to collect their missing family members. Sources alleged that these women belonged to a ring of prostitutes who deceived the people of tribal and rural areas. The record of the ‘escaped brides’ showed that they escaped within three or six months of their ‘marriage’ or sale.

All the escaped women mentioned Lakhu Khosa as their seller. But the Sadar police have not brought even a single case against the accused.

The runaway brides who have been at the Darul Aman between 2002 and 2008 are: Shazia, daughter of Ghulam Sarwar, of Lahore; Sadia, daughter of Ashraf, of Kasur; Ramzana, daughter of Wali Muhammad, of Sheikhupura; Bushra, daughter of Muhammad Husain; Asia, daughter of Sadique; Asmat Bibi, daughter of Javed; and Saima, daughter of Yousaf.

Sources say many such ‘brides’ are still in the tribal area and will run away, whenever they find a chance.

Hafiz Abdul Rauf, former tehsil nazim, also contacted police a few years back for action against the gang. Rauf says he is an eyewitness to the trade of women. He says he went to the hideout of the gang to contract the marriage of his servant with a woman who was sold for thousands. Later, bride Ramzana said she was already married.

Sources say the Border Military Police which are responsible for law and order in the tribal area have also links with the gang.

The sources say even though the trade of women continues through the year, it peaks during the seasonal festival at the shrine of Sakhi Sarwar in the months of March and April.

Aslam Qureshi, in charge of Darul Aman, said such women told the same story of abduction. He said the relatives of the allegedly kidnapped women had never contacted police in their districts for the registration of cases about their missing women.

Sakhi Sarwar SHO Rana Khurshid says according to his experience such women are “professional”.

Senior police officers say they cannot take any action without any complaint and court permission.