Anisa, 22, went to the Pakistani women’s association to be protected from her father, who wanted to marry her off to a Pakistani cousin. The young woman went to the center accompanied by her romantic partner with whom she voluntarily wants to live her life. They spent five days in the institution, hiding for fear of reprisals from their father and their community. They filed a complaint and were then referred to a Generalitat shelter, where they are out of danger.
The National Police arrested his father together with the Urban Guard on May 21, when he landed in Barcelona after spending two months in Pakistan. The court released him, but issued a restraining order against his wife, two of his daughters and the partner of one of them.
The detainee was preparing the arrival in Barcelona of his nephew, Anisa’s cousin, so that they could formalize a family and fulfill the marriage they had arranged.
In August 2021, Anisa’s family traveled to Pakistan to attend the wedding of one of the daughters to a cousin, in another forced marriage. Anisa attended the celebration, forced by her father, but once there she discovered that she had been deceived. Her father intended to marry her off to one of his cousins, much older than her. The link had been previously arranged between the two families. The woman refused and was brutally assaulted by her own father, who beat her until third parties could stop him. “Extreme violence was used against her which caused her serious injuries,” the police said in a statement. Women who refuse to enter into previously arranged marriages are accused of tarnishing the honor and dignity of the family name. So, the injuries were so serious that they prevented Anisa from formalizing the marriage formalities. However, her father used an allegedly fake certificate to initiate the steps to obtain a residence and work permit for his nephew with the intention of him going to Barcelona to live with his daughter. The proceedings began in March. When she saw that the moment was approaching, Anisa escaped.
“Now we are trying to annul the marriage in Pakistan”, explains Huma Jamshed, president of the association who recognizes that it will be a complicated procedure. “In Pakistan, the marriage can only be annulled if it is proven that the husband is impotent”, he underlines. “The easiest thing would be to process the divorce, but why will she divorce if she was forced to marry him? It must be annulled”, he concludes.
