KARACHI, Pakistan – Police are seeking 10 men, including several tribal elders, accused of pressuring a Pakistani woman to hand over her teenage daughter as payment for a 16-year-old poker debt, officials said Tuesday.
Nooran Umrani alleges that, despite paying off her late husband’s debt of $165, she was threatened with harm if she failed to hand over her daughter, Rasheeda.
The 17-year-old was to be surrendered as a bride for the son of Lal Haider, the man who won the card game years before, Umrani said.
Umrani said her husband was a gambler who ran up the debt at a poker game when Rasheeda was 1 year old. He promised Haider that he would get Rasheeda in lieu of payment when she grew up, the mother said.
Koral Shah, a police officer, said a group of elders from the tribe came to Hyderabad in January to investigate the case and had ruled that, under tribal custom, the girl should be married to Haider’s 23-year-old son.
Police said Tuesday the mother and daughter were in their protection and that an investigation was opened against Haider, his son and eight others. Police want to arrest the elders, Shah said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
