SANGHAR, July 22: Three minor girls are facing forced marriage after their brother eloped with a girl in the Col Sherjang village, Jhol police station jurisdiction.

The girls' brother, Rustam Talpur, 22, and Kulsoom Talpur, 16, had eloped on July 5. Kulsoom was already engaged to a boy, Papoo, son of Ahmad Talpur, of the same village.

Ali Gul Talpur, paternal uncle of Rustam, said relatives of the girl were pressuring them through landlords and influential people of the area to hand over Rustam's sisters, Waziran, 12, Bashiran, 9, and Bakhtawar, 5.

He said that 60-year-oldAhmad himself wanted to marry Waziran, Bashiran to his son and Bakhtawar to a brother of Kulsoom.

Ali Gul said they had no clue to the whereabouts of the couple. He said the girl's relatives were threatening them with implicating their women in a kidnapping case and taking away the minor girls by force.

He said they had requested the relatives of the eloped girl to give them some time to locate the couple and had assured them that the couple would be handed over to them after being found.

He said they searched them in Hyderabad, Tando Adam and other areas but could not find them. He said the father of the boy had to sell his goats to meet search expenses.

Mr Gul claimed that the father of Kulsoom, who was also very poor, had accepted the marriage and was ready to pardon the couple.