PESHAWAR, July 21: Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan on Saturday directed the commissioner and deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Hazara Division, to provide security to an Afghan couple facing death threats over marriage.

The chief justice took suo motu notice of the matter after some private television channels said the couple faced death threats from their families.

He issued directives to the commissioner and DIG of Hazara Division to provide foolproof security to the couple and produce them before the court on July 23.

He also issued directives to the Abbottabad district and sessions judge to depute a magistrate for recording the statements of the couple. It was issued directions for production of their statements on the date fixed.

Mr Hewad and Ms Maryam were taken into custody two days ago by the officials of Mirpur police station in Abbottabad.

The woman, 22, has been kept at a women’s shelter house, while the man charged under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, has been sent to Mansehra prison by a judicial magistrate in Abbottabad.

An official at the Mirpur police station told Dawn over the telephone that he had received a complaint from an Afghan national, Ishaq Khan, who alleged that his sister-in-law, Ms Maryam, was kidnapped by a man identified as Hewad from Afghanistan.

He added that the complainant alleged that they had come to know that the kidnapper had taken the woman to Abbottabad and had now been residing there.

The official said police raided the premises and recovered the man and woman from there.

He added that although the man claimed that he was having valid visa permit of Pakistan, he had so far failed to prove it prompting police to charge him under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act.

He said the couple claimed to have married but didn’t prove it. He added that the woman recorded her statement with the magistrate under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and wished to be sent to darul aman (shelter home).

The official said on the order of the chief justice, the couple would be produced before the high court on July 23 (Monday).

The couple told reporters in Abbottabad that if they were sent home, they would be killed by their relatives.

The woman said her relatives were after her and her husband and would kill them. She added she was never kidnapped by her husband and that she married him of her own free will.