'Abducted' girl appears in court

The Scottish-Pakistani girl at the centre of a custody battle told a court today that she wanted to remain in Pakistan with her father, their lawyer said.

Molly Campbell, 12, also known as Misbah Iram Ahmed Rana, appeared in a court in the eastern city of Lahore and signed a statement saying she arrived in Pakistan from Scotland on August 26 of her own free will.

“I was not kidnapped. I have arrived in Pakistan to live with my father,” the girl said in the statement presented to the court, according to lawyer Mohammed Basit.

The judge, Amir Javed Rana, awarded custody to the girl's father, Sajad Ahmed Rana, until September 6, when a hearing will be held to decide guardianship and give time for her Scottish mother to attend.

The judge also ordered that notification of the guardianship hearing be passed on to the British Consulate in Lahore.

The mother, Louise Campbell, was awarded legal custody of her daughter last year and has alleged that the girl was abducted from their home in Stornoway, on Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, on August 25.

The girl, wearing green-coloured traditional Pakistani clothing, appeared calm in court, but neither she nor her father spoke to waiting reporters.

The girl’s father visited Stornoway on August 24 and left later for Glasgow. The following day, the girl was met at her school by her elder sister, Tahmina, and they flew from Stornoway to Glasgow before boarding a flight to Lahore.

Scottish police, who have said the case could be a violation of the Child Abduction Act, have completed their investigation and filed a report to prosecutors, who will determine whether to take further action.

Mohammed Sarwar MP arrived in Lahore on Friday and met the girl and her family.

Sarwar said the girl had claimed she was not forced to go to Pakistan. But he said her father “has probably broken the law” by taking his daughter from her mother.

British and Pakistani judiciary officials signed a 2003 protocol to return abducted children to the country where they normally lived and where a court can decide which parent the child should live with.

It was unclear if the mother had approached British authorities to activate the protocol. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has said it would investigate the girl’s alleged abduction if it receives an official approach from British authorities.