A 15-year-old girl living in fear of becoming an honour killing victim issued a plea on Tuesday for President Pervez Musharraf to protect her from her husband's relatives. Lakhmira Shar's husband tried to cut off her nose after attempting to take her before a tribal council to be declared an adulteress in Sindh province.
"I want President Musharraf and human rights organisations to take up my case," she told Reuters from her hiding place on the marshes outside Daharki town 550 km north of Karachi.
"Although my husband is in jail, his relatives have vowed to kill me," Lakhmira said. Musharraf is expected to return later this week from a trip to the United States.
Lakhmira was accused of having an affair with a man she says she has never seen. Her case came to national attention after a Reuter's story published on September 2, and her 40-year-old husband Dilawar Dilbar has since been arrested, police say, on charges of attempted murder. The police have also released her father, who was falsely accused of assault by Dilbar and his clan.
"Even though my husband is in jail, he and his relatives are insisting I should go before a tribal council headed by the sardar. If I do that, either I will be killed or they will sell me off," she said.