Molly Campbell - kidnapped, abducted or something more complicated?

There is always more than one side to any story, and the case of the 12-year-old taken from the Western Isles is no different.

What has been put about by the media has been the mother's tale. I've now managed to piece together some more information from the father's side.

Friends close to the family are angry at the way this has been portrayed as a case of abduction or kidnap. Even Louise's own emotional statement today gave a sense of this not being the case:

"I would like to say to Molly that we miss her so much and we beg her to come home to us.

"She has to know she is not in any trouble and we are not angry, we just want her home."

She seems to be saying that the girl herself chose to go. Reports indicate that Molly met her father the day before she actually disappeared, but kept this secret from her mother.

Molly Campbell was born Misbah Iram Ahmed Rana. She is one of four children from the marriage of Sajed Ahmed Rana and Louise Campbell - the others being Omar, Tahmina and Adam.

Louise converted to Islam and was known as Sheza during her marriage to Sajed. He was a committed follower of Tablighi Jamaat, she was also practising and wore the niqab. Ultimately the marriage broke down.

At the time of divorce, it's said Louise was suffering from various personal problems. She was also living with a boyfriend, and it was agreed that the children should live with their father Sajed.

They lived for a while in Pakistan. Upon return to the UK, out of his own free will, Sajed said the children should visit their mother. The older three, being over 16, returned to him. Misbah/Molly however did not as court action followed for Louise to take custody of her.

Sajed has not seen her since, despite serious attempts to locate his daughter. This is what has led to the current situation. This isn't a straightforward case of clashing cultures. It fits more neatly into the Fathers4Justice campaign.

Initially I thought that none of this takes us away from what needs to happen though. There is due process in this country. It is not acceptable that if the result does not agree with your own desires, that there is another option of taking the situation abroad.

However, what if due process in Pakistan leads to Sajed being declared Molly's legal guardian there? What you have then is two legal systems saying two competing things. Facts on the ground would dictate that Molly stays in Pakistan. Then there is the complication that I understand Molly is also a Pakistani national. No due process could make Pakistan hand over one of their nationals. Even the British embassy would not intervene in a case of dual nationality.

That is unless there was an issue of forced marriage. The Daily Record's claims from Louise's mother on this are well wide of the mark. I'm told she has always harboured animosity towards Sajed, and refused to speak to Louise all the years she had converted to Islam. 'Forced marriage' seems to be an easy cheap shot to make.

However, also consider the situation. Molly/Misbah has three older full brothers and sisters. None of them seem to be with their mother. The sister, Tahmina, actually helped in the taking of Misbah/Molly away from the Western Isles.

Would she is all conscience put her 12-year-old sister in the situation of getting a forced marriage to a 25-year-old? I also can't see a fully grown man going for that kind of thing. I know Pakistan has been subject of all kinds of bad stuff lately, but this is pushing it.

The BBC also clearly still need to learn the difference between 'arranged' and a 'forced' marriage. The former is a legitimate choice of both man and woman, the latter is wholly unacceptable.

UPDATE: I'll be appearing on Newsnight Scotland about this tonight, 11pm

UDPATE 2: Sajad's brother speaks out over at the iWitness. He says Molly wants to be with her father.

Comments

[ainelivia]

You are battling against perceptions here. The "myth" in European culture is that any marriage not a "love" match, is therefore forced. Mind you, arranged marriages are not that alien to European culture. I can think of one very high profile "arranged marriage", over the last twenty-six years or so. And marriages are "arranged" particularly by the upper classes where money and inheiritance is involved. But anyway... I digress (not unusual)

Very interesting, why will your rebuttal only be shown on BBC Scotland? After all if the BBC and other news agencies have put out one version, what's the aversion to putting out the other side of the story? Shouldn't all of the country be made aware of the full story?

[Badar]

Dear Osama , you are 100 per cent right, this is a family dispute and Scottish media is explointing the situation as usual. The one factor can tell the whole story, the father and elder sister meet the girl one day before and then why Misba did not tell this to any body? she was willing to go Pakistan and want to stay with her father as her other sister and brother.
Pakistan is an independent country and Scottish law is not working there.

[Usayd]

If she took custody of a Pakistani national, a minor, while on the minor was on holiday, or at least away from her established home, then surely she is the kidnapper. She even moved house so the father of the girl, who volunteered to allow the kids spend time with their Mother, could not find them!

I was having the same suspicions, glad to see there is someone in cyper-space who has the tenacity to investigate, thanks Osama!

[binny]

I'm 100% sure, that the MSMedia would have been completely quite, if it were a black father who had kidnapped his 12 year old mixed daughter and taken her to Jamaica. Why because, during the 60's blacks were treated like animals (remember - no blacks no dogs signs on shop fronts), when the blacks had enough they snapped, they started to riot and burn down shops/loot from cities/towns, they even butt rape thousands of young white girls for years (still doing it), to teach whites a lesson (not to mess with blacks), and it had worked, now whites are scared and even sacrifice their underage daughters for the fear of getting beaten or killed, they look the other way, even marry them off. Muslims are now at that same stage (their getting tired). Thats the only language 'educated' whites learn (pure violence).

[Martin]

Osama, this is interesting and weighty stuff.

Let me see if I've got this right. Misbah Rana is the subject of a Scottish court order. Regardless of how she got there (or, hmm, who helped her get there), her presence in Pakistan without the consent of her vile and wanton apostate of a mother means that she's now not where the law of Scotland says she should be. The child is a minor, and although her views can be considered by the court they are not conclusive.

Which means that by refusing to adhere to the Scottish court order binding him Sajad Ahmed Rana is breaking the law of Scotland.

That's pretty much the legal stuff in a nutshell.

Rana seems to have friends in high places - it's not every criminal who has a friend like former Glasgow Labour councillor Bashir Maan going on television and complaining of 'Islamophobia' in the reporting of his crime, or a Glasgow Labour MP like Mohammed Sarwar flying round the world to interview his crime's victim.

But the most disturbing aspect of your post is raised by your comparison of this case to the Fathers4Justice campaign, now little more than Monty Python's Tedious Nuisances.

It is this -

If this is like Fathers4Justice, then I can't help but wonder why nobody involved in this case is wearing a Batman suit.

Wear your Batman suit with pride, Osama! Gaun yersel, son!

[Sadat]

Who cares about Scottish laws! It is fit for pig eaters.

Misbah is a Muslim. So she is bound by shariath only. Her mother is a confirmed drug-addict and a kafir. Her allegations are irrelevant.

[Osama]

Martin, people like you have to bring religion into everything.

I've actually mentioned the Batman example in another post http://www.osamasaeed.org/osama/2006/09/misbah_speaks.html

If the legals are as clear cut as you make out, then no doubt he'll be prosecuted. Would be interesting, to say the least, to see the Scottish legal system bring itself to that. But it would no doubt make people like yourself very happy, and that's the main thing.

[ainelivia]

Oh dearie me, Osama, if you look at the comment above yours, it would appear that Martin is not alone in "bringing religion into everything".

"Sadat", says " Scottish laws are fit for pig-eaters", and by inference, "drug-takers and Kafirs". (not sure what Kafirs are, but I guess from the context, it's not desirable?)

Left me thinking about the time in the 1960's while on holiday in London with my Father. (at this time Irish Currency and English were not interchangeable, however most shops would accept Irish Currency Notes) Needing some change I trundled up to the WHSmith Kiosk at Leicester Square Tube Station and asked, very politely, if they would change the note for me. Imagine my horror when the silver-haired lady at the kiosk looked at me and shouted, "We don't change Pig-Money here". I responded immediately, " Really, but you eat the pigs when we send them over".

All this storming in tea-cups.

Although I must say I was shocked to hear on the Channel 4 news report the words of Misbah's father: something along the lines of - I will bring her up as a good Muslim, "with her Mother she would be brought up as a Nothing".

Well as a "Nothing" I'd just like to respond to Mr Rana's prejudice. I was brought up a Nothing, and I think my morals, values and sense of what's right and wrong, are pretty solid, thank you.

Not about religion? I heard it from the man's mouth.

[Osama]

A father is capable of loving his daughter regardless of religion. My point is that fathers in this country have been beating their heads against a wall for a long time because of the denial of their rights. Sajad had a recourse most don't.

Ainelivia, I'm presuming you don't know Louise Campbell. Don't take Sajad's comments personally against yourself. Take it from me, a life with Louise would be nothing.

[Martin]

My dear Osama,

My question was not directed at him - it was directed at YOU!

When will see YOU in the Batman suit? It was your analogy, after all... although whether Rana would be happy to be compared to a bunch of scofflaws who break the law when it suits them...sorry, I forgot, he is a scofflaw who breaks the law when it suits him...

So your analogy might be apt after all.

I rather hope he is prosecuted - although in order for that to happen he has to be here. Whether or not extradition is competent in such cases, I don't know; but I don't imagine he'll be returning to Scotland in a hurry.

Why are you complaining that I 'bring religion into everything'? Religion seems to be critical to this case. The day after Rana told the world's press that Misbah could return home with Sarwar, he obtained a Pakistani court order on the basis that the lassie was not being brought up according to Islam. That makes religion critical to the case.

And where has Sarwar gone?

There has been no sound from him for nearly two weeks...who knows, Rana might have gone off-message...

I have too much experience of working in family courts for anything about this jihad of Sajad Rana's against the law of Scotland to makie me happy, other than that as a citizens and taxpayer I have the right to expect my country's laws to be obeyed, an expectation I want public figures like Mohammed Sarwar and Bashir Maan to reinforce. Is that too much to ask?

[Osama]

"Religion seems to be critical to this case."

Yes Martin, because if Sajad wasn't a Muslim, he wouldn't care about his daughter.

And why do you want me to wear a Batman suit? Is it because you burn bras on the streets?

FYI Sarwar was scheduled to go to Pakistan that day anyway because he was visiting the earthquake hit Kashmir region. The timing was coincidental. So that's probably why you've not heard from him.

As for public figures, you might have noticed that even Louise's own MP and MSP who were shouting from the rooftops about abduction seem to have gone rather quiet now the facts are out there.

[Martin]

Osama,

Have I picked you up correctly?

Have you just implied that only Muslims care for their children?

If you have, how dare you say that! How dare you!

[ainelivia]

Osama, this is not about taking Mr Rana's comments personally; that would be a waste of energy. However, I believe that our words reflect our mental constructs, and in this instance reflect that Mr Rana said quite clearly that those not raised in the faith he espouses are "Nothing". His own words. Even allowing for English not being his mother-tongue, what he inferred is clear.

Osama, it is fairly clear that Ms Campbell has some difficulties, but to use it against her, in this way to make your point is really unfair. I do not know her, I do not know Misbah, I do not know Mr Rana, I can only comment on what I have seen. And what I have seen lead me to consider that what may be a hidden issue here is mental health, and not what we are being so liberally informed of because it makes interesting item for the news progs and newspapers.

There is no doubt that the family law in this country needs to be overhauled; and the imbalance towards men really needs redressing. If the issues around this family bring this closer, then something will have emerged from the entire family's pain.

[Osama]

Ainelivia, if that's what he meant, then that's wrong. I don't think it's as clear as you're making out. But let's agree that the meaning is ambiguous then.

[Martin]

Let us cast the ambiguities to one side for a moment, and view the unambiguous aspects of this case -

1. The law of Scotland has been broken.
2. The person responsible for breaking it has later invoked Islam in order to justify his actions.
3. A Muslim MP has visited the lawbreaker at the scene of the crime and has failed to condemn his actions.
4. A Muslim former Glasgow City councillor has also failed to condemn the lawbreaker's actions, but has instead criticised the 'Islamophobia' they have perceived in the reporting of the case.
5. The author of this blog has also failed to condemn the lawbreaker's actions, speciously comparing them with the activities of a secular pressure group - but the guys who invaded Buckingham Palace presumably did it because they missed their kids; not because their kids were not being brought up as Muslims.
6. The author of this blog has also written that 'if Sajad wasn't a Muslim, he wouldn't care about his daughter'. Now THAT'S one of the most unambiguous, unequivocal statements to have arisen during the course of the whole affair.

So Sarwar was not really engaged in some desperate mercy mission to track down Misbah on the mean streets of Lahore, with the theme tune from 'Mission:Impossible!' playing in the background, then? Honestly? Crikey, that's not the impression you'd have got from reading the papers.

How did he get on in Kashmir, by the way? Do you think he will have photos?

Your comments about the silence of the MP and MSP only go to show that some Muslim and non-Muslim politicians seem to share a lack of understanding of the importance of the rule of law.

The rule of Scots Law in Scotland, that is.

Osama, in respect of my call for you to don a Batman suit it seems that the basics of humour have escaped you, as well as those of civics. And I'm a good Catholic boy - what's a bra?

[ainelivia]

Osama, Ah if only that were possible to assume that the meaning is ambiguous. The question his comments raise is: how many others see the world in this way. And they don’t have to be Muslim.

The question is raised for me because I recall how vociferous were many of my fellow Irish Catholics in declaiming the righteousness of their faith. In comparison of course with the wrongness of other faiths. “England is a Pagan country”, was something I heard often when I came to live here. That was the 1960s, not the 1860s. And we all know that “pagan” meant, without God. Which is not true.

And if our faiths teach us to believe that those who do not believe as we do are either, Nothing, or Pagan, there is not much hope of acceptance.

Mr Rana’s comments feed into the already existing climate of fear of Islam. Mr Rana should be asked to clarify his intention when he described his wife’s country, culture and religious beliefs as Nothing. Just as I hope that Pope Benedict will personally clarify what it is he intended to be understood from his speech.

Both of these men have caused, whether intentionally or not, offence and possibly reinforced already existing misunderstandings. It is their personal responsibility to make their words and the intention of their words clear to us.

[misbah]

haloo,,,
it is misbah ahmed rana here(molly campbell).
you might have heard me in the news and i wantted to tell you that i want 2 live here in pakistan and that i do not want 2 live with my mother becouse her and her boyfriend were verbily and metaly abusing me...
tahnk u
misbah ahmed

[Osama]

Misbah, best wishes to you for the future. I pray things work out for the best.

[zahid]

hi this is zahid from saudi arabia basicaly i m from abodttabad mansehra pakistan.i have read all these above posts. and i m reading every news regarding misbah daily.
misbah i just want to tell you that you r muslim and pakistani i m proud of you that you are the part of pakistani people.and you want to live in pakistan.misbah i didn't meet with your baba but i guess he is a very good muslim. and very nice person.misbah i m just telling you don't worry keep it up and Allah is with you.and our all prays with you.no body can move you from pakistan if you don't want to go ok...
just do prayers and imagine Allah is with you ok.
All pakistanis people with you.
one more thing at last can i meet with you directly at your email or phone.i want to talk with you.if you want so you can contact with me at my this email cute_412002@yahoo.com

always my pray with you and my mama pray also ok...coz you know i said too mama please pray for you...and she did daily ok.
bye Allah Bless You

thankx
Regards

zahid

[Ted]

"i just want to tell you that you r muslim and pakistani"

She may be Muslim but she is a Scottish national as the court in Pakistan has ruled - notwithstanding Sajad's futile attempts to ignore this (the second time he has ignored the wishes of a court because it found against him).

What was Osama saying earlier about due process?

[misbah ahmed]

heyyah..this is misbah here..i just want to say that thank you for your kind words and for sapporting me...i am very well here in pakistan with my papa...Allah has been very mercifull, we have won the case i can now stay in pakistan as long as i like..and i am living in pakistan with my father,brothers and sisters..and i would just like to say it again thank you every1 for your sapport...