Written by: Waseem Abbas
Posted on: March 26, 2024 | 
| 中文
Falak Noor and her father, Sakhi Ahmed Jan
The alleged abduction of Falak Noor, a 12-year-old girl from Sultan Abad, a village in Tehsil Danyore, Gilgit, serves as a litmus test for the administration and civil society of Gilgit Baltistan and Pakistan. The case generated public furor after her father, Sakhi Ahmed Jan, appeared in the media nearly fifty days following the lodging of an FIR under Section 364A (kidnapping and abducting a person under the age of fourteen), alleging that his daughter was abducted on January 20th by a family of the same village. Sakhi Ahmed Jan further alleged that the Gilgit Baltistan police is complicit with the abductors, and pressuring them to reach a compromise involving land and 1.5 million PKR from the abductors.
A snap from Falak's video message
A video message purportedly from Falak Noor emerged on social media on March 21st from an undisclosed location in Mansehra, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), in which she claims to have eloped and married Fareed Alam, a 17-year-old boy, of her own volition in a court in Haripur. She asserts that she is 16 years old and dismisses the allegations of her abduction as unfounded. The case exemplifies instances of child abduction, internal trafficking, forced early marriage and child sexual abuse, reminiscent of the notorious Dua Zehra case from Karachi.
Justice Babar Sattar of the Islamabad High Court delivered a groundbreaking verdict in Mumtaz Bibi v Qasim in 2022, asserting that marriages involving children under 18 are void ab initio. Furthermore, Pakistan is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which deems marriage under the age of 18 to be a criminal offense. The Child Marriage Restraint Amendment Act 1929 and the Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Act 2006 of Pakistan Penal Code categorically states that child marriages are unlawful and punishable crimes. Since the abduction took place in Gilgit Baltistan and marriage in KPK, where the legal age for marriage is 16 for girls and 18 for boys, the Falak Noor case falls under the ambit of forced child marriage, as according to the Form B issued by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), Falak Noor is 12 years (as her date of birth is 16 January, 2012). A medical certificate issued by a doctor in Mansehra indicating the girl’s age to be 16, surfaced on media alongside the Nikahnama, but both these documents have no legal standing.
Protest in front of Islamabad Press Club for the recovery of Falak Noor
The Section 498-B of the Pakistan Penal Code mandates imprisonment of 3-10 years and a fine of 500,000 PKR for forced marriages; in addition, Section 468 imposes up to 7 years of rigorous imprisonment for document forgery. Both sections, along with the statutes on adultery and abduction, can be invoked against the abductors and their facilitators in the Falak Noor case.
Falak Noor's case is not an isolated incident; reports of abductions and forced marriages, particularly among young girls from minority communities, are deeply troubling. The abduction of vulnerable girls from marginalized backgrounds by older men for forced marriage, has led to debates in the legislative and human rights circles of Pakistan for years. In October 2021, a proposed legislation to criminalize forced marriages and conversions was rejected by a parliamentary committee due to pressure from the religious right.
Falak Noor's mother
Minority communities like Hindus and Christians are often targets of forced abductions and marriages. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights raised concerns in 2022 about girls as young as 13 being trafficked, forced into marriages with much older men, and coerced into converting to Islam, violating international human rights laws. This issue is now affecting Muslim communities as well.
Dua Zehra and Mehdi Ali Kazmi
Consider the case of Dua Zehra, a 16-year-old girl who disappeared from Karachi on April 16, 2022, only to resurface later, claiming to have married a boy from Okara in Lahore of her own free will, and asserting that she was 18 years old. After a lengthy legal battle, Dua's father, Mehdi Ali Kazmi, obtained custody of his daughter, proving she was a minor and had been abducted from Karachi. Falak Noor's case shares striking similarities with Dua's, as both claim to be 16 years old and assert that their marriages were consensual. Both Dua and Falak Noor accuse their parents of coercion. It is commendable that Sakhi Ahmed Jan, despite being uneducated, is fighting to rescue his underage daughter and challenge the high premium placed on 'honor' (izzat) by the society.
Falak Noor's case presents an opportunity to address legislation on child marriages and enforce it rigorously. Punishment for child marriages should extend beyond the direct perpetrators to include all facilitators, such as the GB police, the doctor who issued the age certificate and the court that approved the underage girl's Nikah in Falak Noor's case. Allowing perpetrators to evade accountability sets a dangerous precedent, perpetuating the cycle of forced child marriages and wreaking havoc on families.
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