U-turn in Scottish-Pakistani Custody Battle
By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent
ISLAMABAD — After a long legal battle that made international headlines, a Scottish mother has offered to give up demands for the custody of her Scottish-Pakistani girl if she is allowed to have access to her daughter, currently living in Pakistan with her father. "She in good faith has offered that if she is allowed to spend time with her daughter in holidays and to be in touch with her by telephone and internet, she will not press for the custody," Naheeda Mehboob Elahi, the counsel of Louise Ann Fairly, told IslamOnline.net on Wednesday, January 10.
"My client fully accepts the right of Misbah's father, and that is why she has agreed to withdraw the custody claim in favor of her ex-husband on these conditions," she added.
Misbah Erum sparked a high-profile police investigation in August 2006, after she ran away from her mother's home in Scotland to live with her father in Pakistan.
The 12-year-old girl arrived in Lahore in August last year with her Pakistani father Rana Sajjad and elder sister Tahmina.
Campbell had said the girl had been abducted and would be subjected to a forced marriage.
But after she arrived in Pakistan, Misbah herself said she wanted to stay in Pakistan and denied she was under any pressure to wed.
In November, a higher court handed over the custody of Misbah to her mother but the father challenged the verdict in the Supreme Court, which stopped the handing over of custody till the final ruling.
Stressed
Naheeda said her Scottish client get tried of the lingering legal battle.
"She has gone to mental stress due to lingering litigation. Her health has been badly affected, and she has not been feeling well," she added.
"Therefore, she wants an amicable solution to the issue," she added.
"There is nothing wrong if Misbah visits Scotland after every three months and her mother comes to Pakistan from Scotland."
Naheeda admitted that her client was living under one roof with her boyfriend, but claimed that Lousie had not converted to Christianity.
"She is still a Muslim."
Rana married Louise in Glasgow in 1984 after she embraced Islam. They have two sons and two daughters.
After the marriage broke down, the children lived with their father and moved to Pakistan.
All the children later returned to Britain to live with their mother but are now back in Pakistan.
Staying
Chief justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, asked the parents to deliberate over the offer and try to work out an out-of-court mutual deal.
However, Misbah told a news conference that even if there were a settlement between her parents, she would not abide by that.
"I have nothing to do with any out of court settlement. I don't bother what my mother says. She is a Murtid now, and I don't want to stay with her."
The young girl insisted that her name is not Molly Campbell, but Misbah Erum as Campbell is the name of her mother's boyfriend.
She charged that her mother forced her to drink wine and involve in other un-Islamic activities, which she could not as a Muslim.
She also said that she felt a threat from her mother's boyfriend who often remained drunk.
" I want to stay with my father, my sister and my brother."