PESHAWAR, Jan 23: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday disposed of a case, taken up on suo motu, pertaining to the forced marriage of an underage girl after it was told that a jirga of elders was trying to resolve the matter.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Raza Khan and Justice Syed Yahya Zahid Gillani observed that in case the girl was not satisfied with the arrangement made by the jirga she could move the court again.
The court had initiated suo motu proceedings in the case after a news item appeared in a section of the press, alleging that a resident of the Mohmand Agency had abducted the 14-year-old girl, Huma, and forced her to marry him. The report said the girl now lived with her parents but her husband was pressurising her to take her back to his home.
On a court notice, the girl appeared before the bench and stated that she was kidnapped and her marriage was arranged with a person named Asif. She said she was now living with her father and did not want to return to the home of Asif.
Her father, Nisar Khan, told the court that Asif was the nephew of his wife, who had arranged the marriage. He said he was against the marriage because Asif was believed to be of bad character. He said that now a jirga was trying to resolve the issue.
PETITION FILED: An independent candidate for the seat of PF-10 in Peshawar, Mohammad Ayaz Afridi, on Wednesday challenged in the Peshawar High Court the candidature of his rival candidate of the Pakistan People’s Party, Niaz Mohammad, accusing him of possessing a fake graduation degree.
Mr Afridi filed a writ petition in the court through Advocate Saleem Shah Hoti, praying that Niaz Mohammad should be disqualified from contesting the election. He said that till disposal of the petition the respondent should be restrained from contesting the polls.
The petitioner said Niaz Mohammad had produced a graduation degree of the University of Peshawar according to which he had cleared the examinations under Roll No. 3172.
He said that after the lapse of the deadline for filing objections he had come to know that the degree was forged and, therefore, he had filed an application before the Election Commission of Pakistan which had referred it to the provincial election commissioner.
He claimed that the returning officer for the constituency, Syed Fazal Wadood, had conducted an inquiry which had proved that the degree produced by Mr Niaz was forged. However, he said, the returning officer had declined to accept his application on the ground that he had no jurisdiction. Therefore, he said, he had approached the high court.
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