CHITRAL: A Kalash girl’s marriage to a Chinese national wasn’t solemnised here due to her community’s concerns over his “identity and character.“

Ou Jun, 36, recently reached Rumbur valley from his Zhejiang region to wed Shaheen Ara, 24, after six-year-long friendship.

Activists of the Kalash community prevented the couple from going to a local court to solemnise their marriage and asked the Chinese national to produce a no objection certificate from his country’s embassy in Islamabad.

Chairman of the Rumbur village council Sultan Khan told Dawn that the community was concerned about the girl’s safety, so verification of the prospective bridegroom’s particulars was required.

However, the girl rejected the community’s opinion and claimed that she had the legal right to choose her husband.

“I’ve come of age and has the ability to discern what’s right and wrong for me,” she told Dawn.

Ms Ara complained that some community activists carried out a social media campaign, damaging her reputation.

She said that she met the Chinese man on Facebook in 2018 that led to their friendship.

“Ou Jun came here twice in the last five years but my parents didn’t agree to our marriage, so he returned. This time around, my parents have agreed to marry me off to him, but the community intervened, opposing out court marriage,” she said.

The Kalash girl said that the Chinese man had gone to Islamabad to obtain the sought-after NOC from the embassy.

Local senior lawyer Abdul Wali Khan told Dawn that if the girl was of legal age, then she didn’t require any NOC to marry.

He insisted that the Kalash community was denying the girl her fundamental right to make own choices and decide her future.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2024