CHAKWAL, June 27: Three brother clerics have fled the town after police booked them for issuing a “fatwa” and giving life threats to a newlywed couple.

Police said here on Monday that Mariyam Khatoon, a resident of village Thoha Maharam Khan in tehsil Talagang, was married to Shaukat Ali three years ago.

After two years of marriage, the couple developed differences due to which Mariyam demanded divorce, but the husband refused. When on January 18 this year she filed a petition for divorce, the Family Court ruled in her favour.

Police said her second marriage was arranged with Naveed Aslam on June 11. But at the time of marriage, Ismail Shah, village's cleric, refused to solemnise nikah . After the cleric's refusal, the wedding procession returned without the bride. However, two days later Mariyam and Aslam got married at a local court in Talagang city.

On June 24, the three clerics – Abdul Qayum, Abdul Ghafoor and Abdul Qadoos – issued a “fatwa” from the mosque's loudspeakers, declaring Mariyam and Aslam “Wajibul Qatal” (deserved to be killed).

The three brothers termed the marriage “un-Islamic” and urged the people socially boycott the couple. In their announcements from the mosque, they alleged that the couple had committed adultery.

SHO Syed Azhar Hassan told Dawn that the three clerics run a seminary in the village. “We will arrest them soon and bring them to book.” He said police would protect the lives of Mariyam and Aslam.