KARACHI: The Sindh Commission on the Status of Women (SCSW) has called for safe recovery of allegedly abducted Dua Zehra and Nimra Kazmi and investigation of their case on merit.

There should be an age determination test to verify the ages of the girls during which the victims should be kept in safe custody with the option of meeting with their parents, it said.

The commission said their B-Forms and other documents provided by the parents should be considered as well, adding that the culprits involved in the abduction and facilitation of their nikah should be punished as per law.

As per an expert legal opinion of the members of the SCSW law committee, cases of the abduction of minor girls should be prosecuted in Sindh from where they were abducted. The girls must be recovered and brought back to Karachi, it added.

The commission also recommended that attention should be paid to the recent trend of minor girls being abducted and found out if that was the work of a certain group of human traffickers.

Besides the commission, the Sindh women development department (WDD) is extremely concerned over the cases. It also strongly condemned the harassment and intimidation of the families and lawyers of Dua and Nimra.

Cases of the alleged abduction and human trafficking of Dua Zehra and Nimra Kazmi, both minors, are being closely monitored by the commission and the women development department.

The hearing of the cases in the district courts are to be held on Saturday (May 30) The cases are being led by advocate Altaf Khoso (nominated lawyer of the WDD and member of the violence against woman committee of the SCSW) and his Plus Legal Aid team.

A detailed briefing has been given to Syeda Shehla Raza, minister of the WDD and Nuzhat Shirin, chairperson of the SCSW.

As per the ruling of the Federal Sharia Court in the case of Farooq Omar Bhoja verses Federation (Shariat Petition 1/2020) in the Mumtaz Bibi Case and the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2013, marriage under the age of 18 is illegal.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2022