SUKKUR, Aug 24: A man allegedly sold his two minor daughters in the Allah Warrayo Mallah village, near Bozdar Wada, Khairpur, on Tuesday morning. Seven-year-old Fauzia and five-year-old Aasia were sold by their father , Lal Bux alias Laloo Shaikh, for Rs80,000 and an acre of agricultural land.

When Fauzia knew about the deal, she fled her home and went to the house of her maternal uncle. Later, she told journalists that her father was a greedy person and he had sold her and her younger sister to one Sono Pasayo, resident of RD-13, Nara.

She said their father without their consent had engaged them to Sikiladho and Allah Warrayo, both sons of Sono Pasayo. She said when they resisted this decision, their father started beating them after which she came to the house of her uncle.

Fauzia threatened that she would commit self-immolation if they were forced to marry the two brothers. Meanwhile, the Bozdar Wada police detained Sher Mohammad Shaikh, the maternal uncle of the girls, on the complaint of Laloo Shaikh.

The Shaikh community condemned the detention of Sher Mohammad. When contacted, the SHO of Bozdar Wada told this correspondent that police wanted to keep Sher Mohammad in detention till resolution of the matter but he was released on intervention of an influential person of the area, Muhabat Khan Rajper.

Laloo Shaikh told journalists that being the father of the girls he could sell them but he had solemnized their Nikkah with the boys. He said his brothers-in-law, Sher Mohammad Shaikh and Khair Mohammad Shaikh, were trying to complicate the matter and they had kept one of his daughter with them.

He further said that Muhabat Rajper had agreed to resolve the matter and now both his daughters were with him. He said Mr Rajper would keep the girls till the matter was resolved. The Mirwah SHO could not be contacted as he had gone to Bozdar Wada to ascertain the background of the dispute and determine ages of the girls.