LAHORE: Punjab police have finally recovered teenage girl Dua Zahra from the Chishtian area of Bahawalnagar.
The 14-year-old girl had gone missing from Karachi in April but later declared that she had run away from her home to marry 21-year-old Zaheer Ahmed in Lahore.
Anti-Violent Crime Cell SSP Zubair Nazir Sheikh said that Dua Zahra and her husband Zaheer Ahmed have been taken into protective custody.
He maintained that the couple will be brought to Karachi after completion of legal formalities. The couple was recovered from a lawyer’s house by the CIA police.
Sindh police had approached the Interior Ministry for help in recovering the teenager after the Sindh High Court (SHC) instructed it to present her in court by June 10.
Dua has been recovered after over one-and-half months since going missing from Karachi and surfacing in Lahore where she claimed to have married.
Dua Zahra’s family had lodged a report about her abduction on April 16. The girl later revealed that she had tied the knot with Zaheer Ahmed. Karachi police have already taken all the family members of Zaheer Ahmed into its custody to pressurise them.
The Sindh High Court and Lahore High Court have both issued orders to recover the missing girl and present her before the court.
READ MORE: SHC orders FIA to prevent trafficking Dua Zehra abroad
During the last hearing on Friday, June 3, the Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to take measures against any attempt to transfer Dua Zehra aboard.
The court had issued a show-cause notice to acting IG Sindh over the delay in recovering Dua Zehra and producing her before the court
The presiding judge inquired about the failure to present the teenager in court to which he was informed that 16 suspects were arrested in this regard.
Justice Iqbal Kulhoro remarked that the case seems a human trafficking case and made it clear that the court wants the girl to present her statement before the court.
After the police’s failure to produce the teenage girl, the court issued directives to DG FIA to monitor border areas in order to avoid any attempt to transfer the girl abroad.
The court also directed NADRA and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) national identity cards (NICs) and bank accounts of the nominated suspects. The court directed the police to present the girl in the next hearing on June 10.
Dua Zehra’s father Mehdi Kazmi also pleaded with the court that the family has hopes only with SHC and needs support.
Dua Zehra went missing from Karachi in April and was later found to have married Zaheer Ahmed. The couple claimed to have tied the knot being 18-year-old, however, the girl’s family maintained that the Dua’s age is 14.
