New Delhi: Uzma Ahmed, the Indian woman who was allegedly forced to marry a Pakistani man at gunpoint during her visit there, called Pakistan a "well of death" while narrating her ordeal on her return on Thursday.
Seated with external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, Indian deputy high commissioner in Islamabad J.P. Singh, and other senior ministry officials, an emotional Uzma said, "It's easy to enter Pakistan but nearly impossible to leave that place."
"Pakistan is a 'maut ka kuan' (well of death). I've seen women who go there after arranged marriages. They're miserable and living in terrible condition. There are two, three, even four wives in every house," she said.
Uzma said she wanted to meet prime minister Narendra Modi to personally thank him for the government's efforts to facilitate her return.
She said 'Buner', the area where Tahir, the Pakistani man who married her at gunpoint, took her after giving her sleeping pills, was like a "Taliban-controlled" region.
Uzma said had she stayed there for a few more days she would have been dead. She broke down several times while recalling the horror in front of the national media.
She profusely thanked Swaraj, Indian mission officials and other staffers for making her comfortable and ensuring her return.
Uzma, who is in her early 20s, hails from New Delhi. She was allowed by the Islamabad High Court yesterday to return to India following a plea she filed with the court seeking its direction after her husband Tahir Ali "seized" her immigration papers and refused to return the document.
She crossed into India through the Wagah Border crossing near Amritsar. She was accompanied by Indian mission officials and escorted by Pakistani police personnel.
Swaraj thanks Pak establishment
Meanwhile, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj profusely thanked the Pakistani establishment and judiciary for facilitating Uzma Ahmed's return.
She said though there is tension between the two neighbors, the Pakistan foreign office and the home ministry played a key role in her return.
Swaraj had words of praise for Uzma's counsel Barrister Shahnawaz and justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani of the Islamabad High Court.
She said while the counsel treated Uzma as his child, the judge dealt with the case on humanitarian grounds and not through the prism of India-Pakistan relations as some people wanted him to.
"I heaved a sigh of relief as soon as she crossed the Wagah border," Swaraj told reporters here.
The minister also thanked officials of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, especially deputy high commissioner J.P. Singh.