Two Pakistani girls who married each other under new British laws have applied for political asylum in the UK claiming their lives would be in danger if they returned to Pakistan after their civil marriage in Leeds earlier this month.
Rehana Kausar and Sobia Kamar tied the knot at a registration office in Leeds, looked on by a handful of friends and the couple’s solicitor. The couple had told the Registrar that they had known each other for around three years after moving to Britain from Pakistan on student visas.
According to a local Birmingham newspaper, the relatives of the couple have said that the girls received threats from their relatives in Pakistan as well as the UK.
Kausar is a master’s degree holder in economics from Punjab University. Both Kausar and Komal are students of business and healthcare management. They met for the first time in Manchester and have been inseparable ever since.
“It’s no one’s business as to what we do with our personal lives. The problem with Pakistan is that everyone believes he is in charge of other people lives and can best decide about the morals of others but that’s not the right approach and we are in this state because of our clergy who have hijacked our society which was once a tolerant society and respected individuals freedoms,” Kausar said.
British human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said, “I am delighted for these two women. They are obviously deeply in love and that’s a wonderful thing. How can anyone object to love? It is sad that Komal and Kausar can only have a civil partnership in Britain and not in their homeland of Pakistan. Gay couples in Pakistan should be able to marry just like their heterosexual friends and family. Even if some Pakistani people don’t agree with lesbian relationships I hope they will accept that two women should have the right to love and marry each other. The right to marry is a human right. It applies to everyone, gay and heterosexual. No government should deny anyone the right to marry the person they love.”
Lesbian, gays, bisexuals and transgender communities face prejudice in Pakistan and don’t enjoy rights and they are widely looked down upon. Pakistan law has no provision for same-sex sexual acts and Islam clearly forbids same sex liaisons. Gays and lesbians also face widespread prejudice in African Christian and Middle Eastern countries but the situation of their human rights in the advanced western countries is far better now. Homosexuality is a punishable offence as well as a sin in Islam.