LAHORE, 27 September 2006 — A Pakistan court yesterday ordered the father of a 12-year-old Scottish girl at the center of a custody battle to hand in her passport and not to move her outside its jurisdiction.
Misbah Iram Ahmad Rana, also named Molly Campbell, was brought here by her Pakistani father last month. Her Scottish mother alleges the girl will be subjected to a forced Muslim marriage.
The Lahore High Court said her father Sajjad Ahmed Rana would have to hand over her passport and keep her within the province of Punjab until the next hearing on Oct. 9, a court official told AFP.
Mother Louise Campbell filed a petition after the girl’s father won a case in a Lahore court three weeks ago barring the government of Pakistan from repatriating the girl.
The petition said Rana concealed facts from the court about the legal status of the child and that the decision should be reviewed.
It said that Misbah “has been brought to Pakistan in an illegal and improper manner without taking into consideration the fact that the matter of her custody was already pending before a court of law in UK.” “Sajjad Ahmed Rana was made bound not to move or take away his daughter beyond the jurisdiction of British court,” it added.
Campbell said Rana, with the connivance of his daughter Tehmina, managed to take Misbah to Pakistan in complete violation of the British court order.
After Misbah flew to Pakistan her mother alleged she had been abducted and would be subjected to a forced marriage.
But the girl has said she did not want to go back to Britain and denied she was under any pressure from her father to marry in Pakistan.
