HYDERABAD, March 18 The Hyderabad circuit bench of the Sindh High Court has issued notices to Badin DPO, SHO's of Badin and Choohar Jamali town and relatives of a couple who had married against the will of the community, asking them to appear in court on March 20 on a petition filed by the couple.

The petitioners Ms Hina and Ghulam Mohammad Kumbhar who were maternal cousins said they were engaged by their parents but later the engagement was broken up and their parents refused to marry them.

They alleged that Allah Bachayo, girl's father, her brother Ghulam Mustafa and the rest her relatives were greedy and selfish and they turned against her when she married of her own free will to Ghulam Mohammad Kumbhar on Jan 1. Their nikkah was registered in Ward Jameel Colony town council Matli, they said.

The girl's relatives and community elder who found the marriage a deviation from outdated customs and traditions threatened Ghulam's parents to implicate them in false cases if they refused to return the girl, they said.

When they refused to hand her over, the girl's relatives and community elders held a jirga on Feb 15, which declared the couple as karo-kari and asked youths of the community to kill them, they said.

They alleged that the SHO of Badin was raiding houses of Ghulam Mohammad's relatives to please the girl's relatives.

They said that they had to go in hiding after being branded karo-kari and their fundamental rights to move freely to live a dignified life and be treated in accordance with law had been seriously infringed.

They prayed the court to direct the respondents to provide them protection and save their marriage under Article 35 of the Constitution.

They said that the respondents should be restrained from harassing them and their relatives and registering false FIR against Hina's husband.

The petitioners were represented by Ghulamullah Chang advocate.