ninme

The Times - ‘We miss you so much, Molly, we just want you back home’ By Shirley English, Jwad Naeem in Islamabad and David Lister in Tong
Mother issues tearful plea after her daughter is abducted from Scottish island and taken to Pakistan by estranged husband

Four days after Molly, aged 12, was allegedly abducted and taken to Pakistan by her estranged father amid speculation about a possible forced marriage to a 25-year-old man, Mrs Campbell appealed for the return of her “loveable, outgoing little girl”.

Molly, who is also known as Misbah Iram Ahmed Rana and speaks Urdu, vanished outside her school in Stornoway in the Hebridean island of Lewis on Friday. It is understood that she met her older sister at the school mid-morning before taking a taxi with her to Stornoway airport and flying to Glasgow International Airport.

There, the two sisters met their father, Sajad Ahmed Rana. By the time she was reported missing, when she failed to return home on the school bus at 4.30pm, Molly was already on a flight to Lahore, Pakistan.

The city’s Allama Iqbal international airport confirmed that Mr Rana had arrived with his daughters on Saturday. Police believe that Mr Rana had a passport for Molly, but it is not yet known whether she went willingly.

Ms Campbell, who is believed to have moved around Scotland to evade her estranged husband, begged him to bring Molly home. Louise Campbell, 38, described the “huge gap” caused by her daughter’s disappearance as the international hunt continued.

Little 12-year-olds being snatched from the freaking Hebrides and taken to Pakistan to marry sad bastard 25-year-olds who can’t beg, borrow or steal a wife themselves. Lovely.

Although Pakistan has not signed the Hague Convention on returning abducted children, the Anglo-Pakistan Protocol, agreed in 2003, serves a similar purpose. Under Pakistani laws a girl cannot marry until she is 16. However, under Muslim law a minor can enter into a marriage contract through a guardian, a move that the child can repudiate before the age of 18.

Update (8.30):

Times Online - MP in Pakistan mission to find Molly Campbell

Mohammed Sarwar, the MP for Glasgow Central and a prominent member of the British Muslim community, has agreed to meet the mother of a missing Scottish girl before flying to Pakistan to try to track down the 12-year-old allegedly abducted by her father. …

Times Online has learned that Mr Sarwar will fly to Glasgow tomorrow to meet Molly’s mother and then travel to Pakistan to provide whatever help he can to find her daughter. The MP’s offer came after a plea for help by Alasdair Morrison, who is MSP for the Western Isles.

Mr Sarwar is returning to London from a family holiday tonight and is due to meet Mr Morrison in his Glasgow constituency tomorrow morning to learn more about the case. Before the meeting with Mr Sarwar takes place, Mr Morrison will meet Ms Campbell at her home in the Western Isles and, if she feels well enough, he will invite her to fly with him to Glasgow to meet Mr Sarwar and attend their meeting.

Equipped with detailed information about Molly, her father and her circumstances, the Labour MP will fly out to Lahore to try to track down the schoolgirl.

I don’t know anything about him, but I think this qualifies for an “Awww“. Apparently he’s done this before. He’s got “connections.”

Update II:

The Times - End of innocence
The abduction of Molly Campbell should prove a turning point

Experts believe that there are many more cases that do not come to light, because it is so difficult for young girls to protest against family decisions. The so-called “honour” cult that inspires some parents to abduct their children back “home”, rather than risk them meeting someone of a different race in the country where they have settled, can also make some girls feel bound to resign themselves to their fate. It is a horrible one. The marriage may only be the start of violence and abuse. Suicide rates among young Asian women in Britain are more than three times the national average, and about 12 women every year die as a result of honour killings, the medieval revenge that awaits those who dare to stand up and say “no”.

Britain should regard all young women, regardless of their origin, as individuals and not possessions. It is not enough to do nothing, for fear of offending cultural sensitivities. It is not enough to wait for “community leaders”, many of whom tacitly approve of forced marriage, to change hearts and minds.

Seriously.

In June the Government decided not to introduce a specific law to outlaw forced marriage. During the consultation period, the Muslim Council of Britain and other groups argued strongly that such a law would stigmatise their communities. Ministers professed suddenly to be concerned about driving the practice “underground” — although it is hard to think of how these abuses could be much deeper hidden — and decided that existing laws against child abduction and false imprisonment were sufficient. They were also concerned, rightly, that victims would be reluctant to involve police and prosecutors in their private lives. The result has been a cop-out.

Jerks. If The Sun and The News of the World were baying about one or two little blond girls, they wouldn’t be able to act fast enough, no matter what previous laws were made redundant or contradicted.