Minor girl sold for Rs28,000
SANGHAR: A man reportedly sold his 10-year-old orphaned niece to a 50-year-old man for Rs28,000 in Sarhari village near Shahdadpur about two weeks ago and police dismissed it as a tribal issue when the girl’s mother complained, sources in the village disclosed on Saturday.
Mushtaq Ahmed, buyer of Shazia, 10, tried to solemnise nikkah immediately after the deal but had to put it off after the girl’s mother Farzana raised hue and cry, the sources said.
The girl who had been shifted to Mohammad Khan Jamali village in Nawabshah was sent back to her parents after the news appeared in a section of press.
The influential people of the area were also putting pressure on the parents to hand over Shazia to Mushtaq, the sources said.
Shazia and her mother told reporters that they would commit suicide if attempts were made to hand her over to Mushtaq.
Farzana had remarried to Ghulam Abbas Mangwano after the death of her husband Mohammad Bux Manganhar. Mangwano had resisted the deal but the girl’s uncle Hazoor Bux silenced him, arguing that he had no right to say anything because she was not her real daughter.
Ms Farzana said that she had gone to Sarhari police station to lodge the FIR but no official paid any attention to her pleas and refused to register the case.
SHO Mahar Ali Bhangwar was not available for comments. His subordinate told reporters that the girl’s mother did come to the police station and remained there for about three hours. Since it was a tribal issue police asked her to solve it through her tribe he said.
Source: Dawn
Date:3/29/2009
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