An Indian woman, who was allegedly forced to marry a Pakistani man, returned home on Thursday.
This comes after the Islamabad High Court allowed her plea and ordered the police to escort her to the Wagah Border.
Uzma addressed a press conference in Delhi, where she spoke about her ordeal and called Pakistan a ‘maut ka kuan’ (death trap).
She said that the man she was forced to marry tortured her in whichever way he could and threatened to harm her daughter.
I am an adopted child and I did not know the value of my life until today.
Sushma Swaraj Welcomes Uzma Back
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj welcomed Uzma back home.
Uzma, who is in her early 20s, hails from New Delhi. She had travelled to Pakistan earlier this month. She had accused Tahir Ali, whom she reportedly met in Malaysia and fell in love with, of forcing her to marry him in Pakistan on 3 May.
Uzma petitioned the Islamabad High Court on 12 May, requesting it to allow her to return home urgently as her daughter from her first marriage in India suffered from thalassemia – a blood disorder characterised by abnormal hemoglobin production.
The court returned her the immigration papers, which she had said were taken away by Ali..
Uzma’s brother thanked Swaraj on Thursday and said:
Very happy to hear that Uzma is back. Sushma Swaraj ji always kept us updated on Uzma and made me speak to her once. The Indian government thoroughly helped us, want to thank the EAM.
She had been staying at the Indian mission in Islamabad after she accused Ali of forcing her to marry him at gunpoint.
Swaraj will address a joint press conference with Uzma later on Thursday.
“Threatened, Harassed, Humiliated”
Uzma, a 20-year-old Indian national, met Tahir Ali when he was working as a taxi driver in Malaysia eight months ago, reported Dawn. Ali, is a resident of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.
Soon after their marriage in May, the couple approached the Indian High Commission in Islamabad for Indian visas.
Uzma later accused Ali of deceiving her as he was already married with four children. She added that he stole her passport and other travel documents. The claims were denied by Ali.
“Threatened to kill, harassed and badly humiliated,” Uzma said in her six-page reply to the Islamabad High Court and repeated that she was made to sign the nikah document with a gun to her head.
But before she signed the document, Uzma said she was ‘mercilessly deadened, sedated through sleeping pills and sexually assaulted’ at the Wagah Border.
“When she regained consciousness, she claims she was in Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” Uzma's lawyer told the court.
(With inputs from media agencies and Dawn.)
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