LAHORE, 30 November 2006 — The Lahore High Court ruled yesterday that the Scottish schoolgirl who sparked an international custody fight by coming to Pakistan must be handed over to her mother in Britain.
The court ordered that Molly Campbell, whose Muslim name is Misbah Iram Ahmad Rana, should be handed over to officials at the British High Commission in Islamabad within a week by her Pakistani father.
The girl burst into tears and several of her relatives wept when they heard that the court had upheld an appeal by her mother, Louise Campbell.
Police launched a hunt for the girl after she fled her mother’s home at Stornoway in Scotland’s remote Western Isles in August to be with her Pakistani father.
“Molly Campbell will be given in the custody of a woman officer of the British High Commission within seven days to make arrangements for her onward travel to Scotland,” judge Mian Saqib Nisa said.
Her mother filed the petition through a local lawyer after Molly’s father, Sajjad Ahmed Rana, won a case here in September barring the Pakistani government from repatriating the girl to Britain.
Louise Campbell claimed the girl, whose apparent disappearance from school four months ago caused a worldwide alert, had been abducted and would be subjected to a forced Muslim marriage.
But after she arrived in Pakistan Molly herself said she wanted to stay in Pakistan and denied she was under any pressure to marry.
Her father said outside the court building in Lahore that he and his daughter were “devastated” and vowed to appeal.
“I don’t want to comment on the court verdict but I feel devastated by the judgment. I will go to appeal in the Supreme Court within seven days,” Rana told reporters.
“My daughter feels very upset. My daughter herself has said she wanted to live with her brothers and sister in Pakistan.” Molly’s mother, who did not travel from Scotland to attend the hearing for financial and health reasons, said she was “elated” but would understand if her daughter was “confused and scared” by the decision.
“I would love to talk to her on the phone to reassure her that the case is still going on over here and she gets to say her point of view,” she told the BBC, adding that she wanted to give her a “big hug.”
“I think Molly is going to be quite scared and confused. I just want to tell her that it is all going to be OK — it’s all going to work out,” she added. Louise Campbell’s lawyer hailed the decision as a “landmark.”
“It was not an unexpected decision for me. I had always hoped that the custody of the child would be given to her mother,” lawyer Nahida Mehbub Elahi said.
“It’s a landmark case because there are some 60,000 people who have married British women here and may face similar problems (if they try to claim custody of their children in Pakistan),” she added.
However she predicted a “long, drawn-out battle” if the case went to the Supreme Court on appeal.
A British High Commission official attended the hearing but Aidan Liddle, a spokesman for the mission, said it did not comment on consular matters involving minors.
Molly arrived at the court wearing full Muslim dress and a light blue head scarf. She was accompanied by her father, sister, three brothers and several other relatives.
She answered questions from the judge about her schooling in Pakistan and her journey from Scotland. The girl had to hand over her passports at an earlier hearing.
The judge also heard final statements from the lawyers for Molly’s parents, who earlier failed to agree on a shared custody plan. He said he would give a detailed version of his order on Monday.
Nahida had argued that Rana could not “kidnap” a minor from the jurisdiction of a Scottish court, which awarded temporary custody to Molly’s mother earlier this year.
