Forced marriage of two lady doctors stopped

RAJANPUR: The forced marriage of two lady doctor in the Rojhan district has been stopped, Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari said on Monday.

On November 1, it was reported that a panchayat in Rojhan had ordered a family to accept the marriage proposal of their two daughters in a watta-satta agreement or withdraw claims from agricultural land. Speaking in the National Assembly, the minister said two people and not a panchayat had passed the order.

Watta-satta involves a marriage arrangement in which two siblings, mostly a brother and a sister, are married into the same family as an exchange. Jagan Mazari was ordered to wed his two daughters, who are doctors, into the family of his brother, Huzoor Baksh.

Mazari’s son, Tariq, who is married to Baksh’s daughter, said their sisters are educated and they do not want to wed to their cousins, who are uneducated. “Panchayat is pressuring us to agree to the marriage after we refused,” he said, adding that they have complained to police but no action is being taken against the influential people. “The panchayat head is pressuring us to withdraw claims from our land in case of refusal,” Tariq added.