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| An interesting battle in Lahore courts | | Custody row girl's case assumes landmark importance | | B L KAK
NEW DELHI, OCT. 14: A 12-year-old Scottish girl of Pakistani origin. Her father, Sajjad Rana. And the "broken bridge" between these two is Louise Ann Farley. All the three have, in recent days, captured the attention of a large number of newspapers, in Pakistan and outside Pakistan. Indeed, newspapers in Pakistan are abuzz with an interesting battle in Lahore courts over the custody of the 12-year old Scottish girl of Pakistani origin, Molly Campbell. Molly, now Misbah Irum, was born in Scotland to a Pakistani father and Scottish mother Louise Campbell.
In 2002, Louise Ann Farley who turned to Islam after marriage with Sajjad Rana, a financial consultant from Lahore, reverted back to Christianity and left Sajjad to marry some Campbell. Three out of her four children left Louise one by one with Molly staying back with her mother.
A couple of months back, Molly too, left her mother’s home and moved to Pakistan with her elder sister and father. Louise knocked the doors of courts in Scotland, Sajjad filed a pre-emptive custody appeal with a guardian judge in Lahore and the stage was set for a drawn out court battle over the 12-year-old.
For Sajjad, as he puts it, the matter was simple. The moral beliefs of the girl were in jeopardy while living in a Christian home with a step father. For Louise Campbell, it was a matter of her child being abducted and she wanted it back come what may. “Had she stayed Muslim, I would have not taken my child to Pakistan. She is living with a stranger in a house where there is no respect for Islamic values and culture,” Sajjad was quoted this week as saying in a Pakistani paper.
No matter whichever way the decision swings, the case has assumed a landmark importance as it would set a precedent for dozens of custody cases pending in Pakistani and British courts. Molly appeared several times in front of Pakistani and British media and said that she came to Pakistan on her own and no one has abducted her. But in the eyes of court she is a minor and a decision by the high court would decide where she goes and lives. On Tuesday(October 10), Molly recorded her statement in the court saying she was unhappy with her mother because she (the mother) had forced her to be a Christian and did not let her meet or even talk to her siblings and father.
Molly told Justice Mian Saqib Nisar that she first decided to live in Pakistan in 2003. She said that she lived in Pakistan for two years and her stepmother treated her well. She said she went to school and after two years went to Scotland to meet her mother. She said her mother put her in a school in Scotland, but stopped her from meeting or even talking to her father or siblings.
“Mama forced me to eat all that is not allowed by Islam.” She said she planned to come to Pakistan when her sister Tehmina went to see her in Scotland. She said she did not tell her mother about her plan and her father arranged for her travel. Dr A Basit, Sajad Ahmad Rana’s counsel, told the court that if Louise had reconverted to Islam, Sajjad welcomed her to come to Pakistan and live on Pak soil. He said he was fine with Louise wanting to live with her children in his house, or if she wanted to live in a hotel, he would pay for her. Basit said Sajad would never remarry her because she had a husband, but she could be Sajad’s good friend for their children’s welfare.
The judge asked Nahida Meboob Elahi, Louise’s counsel, about Sajjad’s offer and advised her to persuade Louise to stay in Pakistan with her children during the summer. She also said Louise wanted to come to Pakistan, but was not comfortable with the security situation. Sajjad’s lawyer Dr Basit referred to a similar case that was settled in Pakistan, saying the court had passed an order that a British mother could have custody of her child only if she agreed to live in Pakistan.
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