<div><div>Uzma Ahmed, the Indian woman who claimed she was forced to marry a Pakistani man at gunpoint earlier this month returned home on Thursday, following the intervention of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.<br /><br /></div><div>Her return was made possible because of an order from the Islamabad High Court, which asked the Pakistan administration to facilitate her travel to India and ordered the police to accompany her up to Wagha border.<br /><br /></div><div>Soon after crossing over, she touched the Indian soil. Later she was received at the Ministry of External Affairs in the national capital. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj thanked Pakistan administration and judiciary for supporting Uzma in her legal battle.<br /><br /></div><div>“I must thanked the Foreign and Interior ministries of Pakistan besides barrister Shahnawaz Noon, who fought her case like a father,” Swaraj said. The minister also thanked Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani for considering the case on a humanitarian ground without resorting to politics.<br /><br /></div><div>As she narrated her horror stories in front of the media in Delhi, Uzma broke down. “Pakistan is a well of death. Its easy to go to Pakistan but difficult to return. I am happy to breath in India. I am an orphan, this is the first time I realise that my life is valuable,” she said holding back the tears.<br /><br /></div><div>In her twenties Uzma, who has a daughter from her earlier marriage, had travelled to Pakistan earlier this month on vacation. The visit happened after Tahir Ali, a Pakistani national, whom she reportedly met in Malaysia and fell in love with, sponsored her.<br /><br /></div><div>Uzma said Ali forced her into marrying him in Pakistan on May 3 in a village in Buner district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. But after the marriage she was harassed, intimidated and tortured. “It was a strange village, which was once ruled by the Taliban. Everyone has multiple wives and guns at home. It was very difficult to come out of that place,” she said.<br /><br /></div><div>The girl, who hails from Delhi, somehow managed to convince her husband to take her to the Indian High Commission in the pretext of extending her visa. At the High Commission, she disclosed her identity, narrated her story and sought help.<br /><br /></div><div>“She told me and the Deputy High Commissioner J P Singh that if we didn't allow her to stay, she would commit suicide, but would not go back to Tahir. We housed her,” Swaraj recalled.<br /><br /></div><div>Subsequently, the High Commission got in touch with the Pakistan government and a petition was filed in the court on behalf of Uzma on May 12 to counter the petition from Tahir. The two petitions were heard together and the judge decided in favour of her deportation to India on Wednesday.</div></div>
<div><div>Uzma Ahmed, the Indian woman who claimed she was forced to marry a Pakistani man at gunpoint earlier this month returned home on Thursday, following the intervention of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.<br /><br /></div><div>Her return was made possible because of an order from the Islamabad High Court, which asked the Pakistan administration to facilitate her travel to India and ordered the police to accompany her up to Wagha border.<br /><br /></div><div>Soon after crossing over, she touched the Indian soil. Later she was received at the Ministry of External Affairs in the national capital. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj thanked Pakistan administration and judiciary for supporting Uzma in her legal battle.<br /><br /></div><div>“I must thanked the Foreign and Interior ministries of Pakistan besides barrister Shahnawaz Noon, who fought her case like a father,” Swaraj said. The minister also thanked Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani for considering the case on a humanitarian ground without resorting to politics.<br /><br /></div><div>As she narrated her horror stories in front of the media in Delhi, Uzma broke down. “Pakistan is a well of death. Its easy to go to Pakistan but difficult to return. I am happy to breath in India. I am an orphan, this is the first time I realise that my life is valuable,” she said holding back the tears.<br /><br /></div><div>In her twenties Uzma, who has a daughter from her earlier marriage, had travelled to Pakistan earlier this month on vacation. The visit happened after Tahir Ali, a Pakistani national, whom she reportedly met in Malaysia and fell in love with, sponsored her.<br /><br /></div><div>Uzma said Ali forced her into marrying him in Pakistan on May 3 in a village in Buner district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. But after the marriage she was harassed, intimidated and tortured. “It was a strange village, which was once ruled by the Taliban. Everyone has multiple wives and guns at home. It was very difficult to come out of that place,” she said.<br /><br /></div><div>The girl, who hails from Delhi, somehow managed to convince her husband to take her to the Indian High Commission in the pretext of extending her visa. At the High Commission, she disclosed her identity, narrated her story and sought help.<br /><br /></div><div>“She told me and the Deputy High Commissioner J P Singh that if we didn't allow her to stay, she would commit suicide, but would not go back to Tahir. We housed her,” Swaraj recalled.<br /><br /></div><div>Subsequently, the High Commission got in touch with the Pakistan government and a petition was filed in the court on behalf of Uzma on May 12 to counter the petition from Tahir. The two petitions were heard together and the judge decided in favour of her deportation to India on Wednesday.</div></div>
