India’s daughter Uzma returns home

New Delhi: Uzma, the Indian woman who said she was forced by a Pakistani man to marry him at gunpoint, returned to India on Thursday, a day after the Islamabad High Court allowed her deportation.
Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, in a tweet, welcomed her. “Welcome home India’s daughter. I am sorry for all that you have gone through,” Swaraj tweeted.
The woman, who sought refuge at the Indian High Commission in Pakistan capital, came back via Wagah border. She was escorted by the officials of the Indian High Commission.
Uzma, who is in her early 20s, had travelled to Pakistan earlier this month on vacation, her family said. Tahir Ali, whom she reportedly met in Malaysia and fell in love with, forced her into marrying him in Pakistan on May 3.
She had appealed to a court in Pakistan on May 12, alleging that Tahir Ali had married her at gunpoint. In the days after their marriage, he had harassed and intimidated her and taken away her travel papers to force her to stay, she told the court.
Requesting the court  to allow her to return to India urgently, Uzma said that she had been “terribly beaten… tortured physically and mentally and forced to sign the nikahnama” by Ali.
Her husband Ali rejected the allegations and said, “she is still my wife. Neither she has asked for divorce nor I have divorced her.” She also told the court that her daughter from first marriage in India suffered from thalassemia – a blood disorder characterised by abnormal hemoglobin production.
Islamabad High Court on Wednesday ruled in her favour and allowed her to return to India. The court also returned her the immigration papers which she said was taken away by Ali, who had submitted the documents after being told by the court to do so.