Osama has been doing a good job, ma sha Allah, of keeping up with the story of Misbah Iram AKA "Molly Campbell" ([1], [2]), a combination of her nickname and her mother's boyfriend's name. Sarfraz Manzoor has an article in today's Guardian media supplement (for some reason not online, but Islamophobia Watch reproduced it) about how what he calls the white media got it wrong - they automatically assumed that the girl had been abducted and that what awaited her in Pakistan was a false marriage, and they could not understand why someone would want to live in Pakistan rather than the Western Isles.
Even when Misbah had spoken publically on Friday, the media still insisted that she had done wrong by fleeing to Pakistan and that her fate should be decided in the UK, not Pakistan. This is the gist of the Hague Convention, and it often results in parents being forced to hand over their children after a marriage, in which they had lived in their spouse's home country, breaks up, often not to see them again for years. (I personally know a brother whose marriage to a Syrian woman broke up, and the wife came to England with their son, and the British authorities refuse to allow the father to take the son back to the son's home country because Syria is not a signatory to the convention.)
Pakistan is not a signatory to the Hague Convention (as is the case with most Muslim countries), but there is a judicial agreement, agreed in 2003 (really bad PDF here), but whether this constitutes an international treaty or is binding in Pakistani law, as it appears not to have been passed by any law-making body there, I'm not sure. What is absolutely clear is that Islamic law is absolutely on the side of Misbah and her father, given that it is an imperative when deciding on who receives custody of a child after the break-up of a marriage for the judge to consider the religion, and moral standing, of both parents. In the case of Misbah's mother, she is said to be an apostate who, since the end of her marriage, has begun drinking alcohol, taking drugs, keeping dogs in her house and living with boyfriends without marriage. She is also said to have put pressure on Misbah to change her religion.
Whether or not the Pakistani authorities will follow the Shari'ah or this convention, which was surely not made with such a case in mind, remains to be seen. There is another complicating factor which may count in Misbah's favour, which is how Pakistan defines a child - in Islamic law, childhood ends at puberty, which for girls means menarche (their first period), or fifteen lunar years, whichever comes first. So if Misbah is already physically an adult, or they manage to drag the legal wrangling out in Pakistan until she becomes such, the legal agreement which specifically mentions children may be irrelevant to Misbah's case. Still, a halfway house may be reached, by which Misbah may be returned to the UK to live with her older brother Omar who, like the rest of the family except the mother, has not renounced Islam. Still, as a Muslim I really do hope that the Pakistani courts see what is in everyone's interests except Louise Campbell's: for the family to remain united, for the time being, in Pakistan.
assalamu alaykum
...which is how Pakistan defines a child...
It seems there is no one definition, and depends on the situation. This might be of interest:
Definition of a Child in Pakistan
There is no standard definition of a child in Pakistan. Under the Majority Act 1875, a child is defined as a person under 18 years of age, while the labor laws fix the minimum age of employment at 14 years. The voting age is 18 years and the national identity card is also issued at this age. Under child marriage laws the marriageable age of a girl is 16 years and for a boy 18 years. Under the Muslim Law, maturity is attained on reaching puberty, and this definition applies in criminal matters covered under the Hudood Ordinance 1979. A positive step towards a standard definition of a child is the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000. It sets the definition of a child at 18 years of age, raising it from 15 and 16 years in the provincial laws. However, the age of criminal responsibility remains seven years.
Don't you find it extremely annoying that the media still refers to her as Molly Campbell? How clearly does the poor girl need to spell it out, that her name's Misbah?
Assalaamu alaikum,
Thanks for posting this. I heard the original news report that she had been kidnapped and taken to Pakistan for a forced marriage, but I didn't hear any of this; not surprisingly, the reality didn't get as much attention as the original story.
The girl is under age and the mother is the legal guardian.
Who cares what barmy laws they have in Pakistan about this.
She is not in a position to give her consent. Of course at the moment she regards all this as rather exotic. But this dozy idiot should realise that she can run away from Scotland but not from Pakistan.
I hope the mother fights this tooth and nail.
Miss Misbah Alam should not be submitted at any cost for the Pakistani Community.