THE mother of Molly Campbell, the 12-year-old girl at the centre of an international custody dispute, may be attacked if she comes to Pakistan to try to win back her daughter.
Asma Jahangir, Pakistan’s leading human rights lawyer, said yesterday that court cases in her country were won by who could “frighten the most” and urged Louise Campbell to get protection.
Ms Campbell, 38, has not seen her daughter, who now wants to be known by her Islamic name, Misbah, since she disappeared ten days ago from their home in Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides.
Misbah is living with her father, Sajad Rana, in Pakistan and said in a press conference last week that she went with him of her own free will. Mr Rana has described his former wife as a cannabis-using apostate of Islam and claims that she was mentally unstable.
Ms Campbell has been summoned to appear before the District Court of Lahore for a hearing within the next few days, but her lawyers have not indicated whether she will attend.
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Mrs Jahangir, who has won several abduction cases, said that she was disgusted by the attacks on Ms Campbell’s character, saying that they were motivated by racism against foreigners and prejudice against women. “There’s an anti-Muslim sentiment in the UK but there’s such a racist sentiment here. Those who are not Muslim are looked down on as if they have no right to exist.”
Mrs Jahangir, who founded Pakistan’s first all-female legal practice and has been repeatedly harassed, arrested and beaten during her career, said that she would be interested in taking on Ms Campbell’s case. “Frankly, I find this case completely disgusting. I have done cases of a similar nature and every time there is a case involving a woman not from Pakistan she has been accused of all kinds of behaviour which is anti-Islamic.”
Mr Rana said that Ms Campbell had given Misbah alcohol and offered his 15-year-old son cannabis, and Misbah claimed that her home in Stornoway was “a living hell”.
Mrs Jahangir said: “Pakistan is a country where there is no law, it is just a question of whoever can frighten the most. She [Ms Campbell] would have to get the British High Commission to protect her here.”
She said that Mr Rana had no legal right to be Misbah’s guardian, even though the case was complicated by Misbah’s wish to stay with him. “It’s a very straightforward legal argument,” she said.
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Ms Campbell’s solicitors refused to comment on the case.