MULTAN, Jan 26: The police have failed to rescue a woman kidnapped from a court’s premises six days ago. Balqees Fatima was allegedly kidnapped before court where she had arrived to attend the hearing of annulment of her Nikah with Mazhar Abbas.
Mazhar from Kot Abbas Shaheed in Multan married Balqees on July 11, 2004 and it was a love-cum-arranged marriage.
On July 19, 2005, Ghulam Ejaz, Balqees’s brother, lodged an FIR in the Budhla Santt police station, saying that Balqees had already married Nazir Ahmad on April 4, 2004, much before her marriage with Abbas. He presented Nikahnamas (marriage deeds) supporting his allegation. The police found the Nikahnama bogus when a forensic science laboratory confirmed that the signatures on both deeds were different.
Police declared Abbas and Balqees innocent and their Nikah genuine. On this, Mukhtar Hussain, a relative of Balqees, filed a petition in the court of the Multan additional district and sessions judge.
The court also declared Mazhar and Balqees a lawful couple on May 27, 2005.
Nazir again filed a case for the annulment of Balqees-Mazhar Nikah on April 11, 2005. The judge referred the case to a family court on April 11, 2005, where Balqees said that Mazhar was her husband and that Nazir had dragged them in litigation to disturb their matrimonial life.
While the battle over the legality of Nikah was on, Balqees gave birth to a baby boy on Nov 1, 2005.
Family Court Judge Imran Shafi summoned Balqees on Jan 14, 2006, to the court to record her statement. Before the hearing, both parties exchanged hot words outside the judge’s chamber.
Mazhar said that Balqees appeared before the judge but he did not record her statement and fixed Jan 20, 2006, for another hearing.
According to Mazhar, she asked the court to provide her security, which the judge refused, saying that he had talked with the lawyer of other party and there was no need for security arrangements.
Mazhar said that on Jan 20, about 40 people, including four women, attacked them outside the court, threw red chilies in their eyes and kidnapped Balqees. Meantime security officials arrived there and captured four people and handed them over to the Chehliak police station. The police lodged an FIR against eight nominated and 12 unidentified people for kidnapping Balqees. He said he had asked the police to register a case under terror charges but the police only put 365 section of the Pakistan Penal Code in the case.
Mazhar said the police later released accused Ghulam Murtaza.
He said that his 13-month-old-son Ibn-e-Abbas was missing his mother but the police were trying to shelve the case to oblige Baraan Lothar Union Council Nazim Khizar Murtaza Gardezi who was backing the accused. He claimed that Gardezi had telephoned him and asked him to hand over the infant to him.
He said he had recorded the call in his cell. He said that he feared the life of his wife was in danger and that whenever he informed the police about the whereabouts of the accused, they would inform them before raiding the place.
Chehliak DSP Malik Karamat said that he was busy in another case and section 7 of the Anti-Terror Act applied only in the cases of show of automatic weapons or committing aerial firing.
Chehliak SHO Sarfaraz Gilani said the police would investigate Gardezi if the plaintiff gave a solid proof against him.
Gardezi said that he asked the police to release Murtaza because he was innocent in the case. He said that the accused had presented Balqees before the Lodhran sessions court judge on Jan 25 where she stated that she had left her husband because he used to beat her.
He said he had asked Mazhar to hand over the son to his wife because she had asked him to do so.
Advocate Prince Rehan Iftikhar told Dawn the accused could not present the woman in the district and sessions court when the case was being heard by another court.
He said the terror charges were applied in this case as 40 armed people had panicked the plaintiff and kidnapped his wife.