KARACHI, April 12: The Sindh High Court ordered on Monday the production of two girls allegedly being confined by their hostile relatives for forced marriage in the territorial limits of the Kandiaro police station, Naushero Feroze, on April 16.

Jannat Khatoon stated in her habeas corpus petition that her in-laws mistreated her and her seven children after her husband Ibrahim Ansar's death. They wanted to marry off her daughters, Zahida Hajiani and Khalida, to men of their choice.

She and her daughters did not want to marry at the behest of people "who had always insulted and humiliated them". When the petitioner and her daughters resisted their decision, the relatives made their life miserable. Her eldest son, who had joined the army as a soldier, meanwhile, decided to shift to Karachi to escape their oppression.

The relatives became all the more hostile and abducted Zahida and Khalida as the family was shifting to Karachi with bag and baggage in a vehicle. Ms Khatoon said her in-laws had made it clear that the two girls would be killed as 'kari' if they did not agree to marry men of their choice.

She submitted in her petition that the two girls might either be killed or forced to marry against their will. Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed, who heard the petition, issued a production order and asked Additional Advocate-General M. Ahmed Pirzada to ensure that both girls were produced in the court on April 16.

The petitioner said she and members of her family, except the two kidnapped daughters, had already moved from their native village in the Kandiaro police station to Karachi due to threats to their lives.

She said the police had earlier recovered the girls but reverted them to the illegal custody of her in-laws under pressure.