Pakistani mother reunited with sons in US after 2-year search

E-Paper | March 11, 2026

CAMDEN: A Pakistani woman whose two-year search for her missing sons culminated in a reunion in southern New Jersey can fly home to London with the boys.

Judge Renee Marie Bumb ordered federal marshals to protect Uzma Shafqat and her 8-year-old twins when they depart from Philadelphia International Airport on Thursday, The Courier-Post reported.

A report on a local website, quoting court papers, said Uzma gave birth to the boys in 2007, while living with her husband's extended family in Pakistan. The boys' father, Shafqat Mahmood Malik, allegedly asked the mother to give one of the babies to his sister and brother-in-law, who were not able to have their own children.

When Uzma declined, the report said, she had to suffer "physical, emotional and financial abuse" at the hands of her husband and his family. The abuse continued even after the family moved to London in 2011, the report said.

The boys' father allegedly abducted the twins in London and took them to his native Pakistan when their mother was hospitalised in October 2013. They were found in Gloucester Township, New Jersey, last month living with their father and some relatives.

Stephen Cullen, the mother's attorney, said Malik had been preparing to take them to Pakistan, where they would be out of the reach of international law in child-abduction cases.

A big break came last year when a Pakistani tipster notified authorities that the father had taken the boys to the Albany, New York, area.

“We rushed up there, but somehow they found out we were on to them,” Cullen said.

US marshals were then able to track the twins to Gloucester Township, where they were removed from Blackwood Elementary School by federal agents.

Malik, who did not oppose Bumb's order, said he reserves the right “to assert my defences to the underlying custodial proceedings in the United Kingdom."

Cullen said a British court has already awarded custody of the boys to the mother, but Malik could seek visitation rights.

“Uzma never gave up hope and continued the fight to be reunited with her sons, sometimes against what seems insurmountable odds,” said Anne Marie Hutchinson, an attorney for a British non-profit that helped reunify the family.

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Mudassir

Nov 12, 2015 02:51pm

Mom, I can't see you becoming old and delicate day by day.. I wish could stop time..

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The Master

Nov 12, 2015 02:55pm

The British will go to any lengths to protect their citizens.

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Asad

Nov 12, 2015 03:24pm

Dear readers please don't forget that Fathers also love their kids equally if not more as the mothers do. Any time i see such articles; people forget the simple realities.

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samad chaudhry

Nov 12, 2015 03:30pm

Congratulations to young mother. Father's stupidity should be punished and even not allowed to see the children. T he evil man took children from their mother.

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anita

Nov 12, 2015 04:24pm

@Asad The twins were born in England hence British citizens and they should not be removed from the country of birth. If the mother had done what father did then the children would have been given to father provided he was living and or was a British citizen. If the kids are born in Pakistan and have Pakistani citizenship, then Pakistani father/mother has right over them. This is the law in every country.

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MJS

Nov 12, 2015 04:54pm

British laws are in the favor of mothers in every respect. Their law does not give any benefit to father. I have seen one example in my family also............Law needs to be changed both the parents should have equal right on the children.

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Asad

Nov 12, 2015 05:11pm

@anita I never said that what what the man did was right or wrong. These days people have started making judgments based on gender, seems as if male & female are two different species not one i.e. Human. I was just highlighting that you have simple emotions either you are male or female. I don't know all the show of words like sexism, feminism, misogynism, and chauvinism are bringing any good to society or life at large. Ironically most flagrant users of these words most of the times have no idea of these words mean... I sadly feel deterioration in basic emotions--shallower and noisier.

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M. Siddique

Nov 12, 2015 05:26pm

@Asad, but kidnapping means they are denying mothers' access to the children. For children mom and dad need to work out amicable arrangement and not around the law.

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Tamilselvan

Nov 12, 2015 07:33pm

@MJS 100% agree. In most societies the custody is given to mothers and the father is supposed to pay child support which is fine provided the money is spent on the child but in many instances many mothers are known to spend most of the money on themselves and leave little for the child. Apart from it they tend to poison the mind of the child against the father too. An ideal justice is not there but there is two sides to the coin.

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Zala

Nov 12, 2015 08:13pm

I am just flabbergasted at the audacity of few people who support such men who kidnap young children from the mother.

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Hamaad

Nov 12, 2015 08:43pm

Shame on such fathers who not only violate the laws of the country but also abuse their spouses/ex spouses by forcing them to give up their children to pacify their own families. Such fathers should be rightfully taken to task.

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itrat khaliq

Nov 12, 2015 09:52pm

@Asad very true

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Murtaza

Nov 12, 2015 10:30pm

'Stephen Cullen, the mother's attorney, said Malik had been preparing to take them to Pakistan, where they would be out of the reach of international law in child-abduction cases.' There have been several cases where courts in Pakistan have handed custody of children to a foreign mother. Most notable was the case of a French mother who was given custody of her daughter by the Lahore High Court in 2012. Why does the international media only highlight negatives about Pakistan?

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concerned citizen

Nov 12, 2015 10:58pm

Family law in the west is biased in favor of mother. Men too undergo a lot of abuse from women. But the law assumes woman is the abused. The law here almost drive men to the street. He has to give up everything from his property even though woman had no contribution in her husband property, she takes away more than lion's share. Father has visitation rights but for that, the father has to pay full expenses of children. I have my friends who share apartments or rent a small part of a house while their ex wives live in big houses. This is not justice! However, what the man did in this case is not acceptable. But we wont know full facts.

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curious2

Nov 13, 2015 02:29am

@Asad Being father doesn't give you the right to kidnap your children - doesn't give you a right to demand the mother give up her child to your sister either.

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