PAKISTAN: The father of British schoolgirl Molly Campbell was today given temporary custody of the 12-year-old by a court in Pakistan

A court in Pakistan on Wednesday (September 6) granted a 48-hour protection order in the case of Molly Campbell, the 12-year-old girl from Britain who fled to the country, to stay with her father. A Lahore High Court judge awarded Mohammed Sajjad Rana protective custody of his daughter. Molly, who is also known as Misbah Iram Ahmed Rana, was picked up by her 18-year-old sister before the pair flew from Stornoway to Glasgow, where they met their father, and then left for Lahore. Molly had signed a statement saying she arrived in Pakistan from Scotland on August 26 under her own free will. She has also made it clear that she does not want to return to live with her Scottish mother, Louise Campbell, who was awarded legal custody in the UK of her daughter last year. After today's hearing Molly's lawyer said the court also granted that she and her family should not be harassed by the Punjab police or other authorities. "We seek interim plea that applicants/petitioners should not be harassed by the Administration of the Punjab Government, Government of Pakistan and even by the DIG or AIG, so interim has been granted that nobody would be harassed by any Administrative body," said Molly's Associate Lawyer, Zainul Abideen. Molly's father also claimed that Molly had recently spoken to her mother on the telephone. " My child told her (mother) today that she should come here (Lahore) and meet her and other children. She (her mother Louis) demanded Molly to come here (to London) but the child refused completely," Mohammed Sajjad Rana said. British police launched an investigation after Campbell left her mother in the Western Isles of Scotland to travel to Lahore. Campbell's mother, Louise, has made an emotional plea for her daughter to return home, while her grandmother was quoted in British newspapers as saying she thought the girl could be forced into an arranged marriage

ITN Source | September 7, 2006

Tags:. .british. .under. .should. .source. .does