TIMERGARA, May 22: A bridegroom, who ran away from a forced marriage 45 years ago, returned home in a Lower Dir village on Thursday.

According to locals, when a man forced his young son to marry a girl against his choice, he left the bride on the third day of the marriage. Hakim Khan was 20 years of age when his father Ghulam Mohammad, a strict man by nature, compelled him to marry the girl, whom he had selected as a daughter-in-law.

The young Khan was not in love with that girl so he ran away and returned to his native village Utala Dushkhel after decades, relatives told Dawn. They said Mr Khan had left his family as he was not willing to marry the girl his family had selected for him as a wife.

“Our father was very strict and he compelled him to marry the girl, whom he had selected for him and he (father) proved his words,” said Sargand Khan, elder brother of the runaway bridegroom.

However, on Thursday, when Hakim Khan entered his native village no one recognised him. Now he is a 65-year-old man, sporting a white beard.