Pakistan’s interfaith couples brave all threats for forbidden love

[rug]

Pakistani video journalist Naadir Maan and his wife Saba speak during an interview with AFP in Faisalabad.

11:26 PM
17 August 2014
By Khurram Shahzad, AFP
Lahore

Thirteen years ago among the whirring looms of a garment factory in an eastern Pakistani city, a Muslim woman fell in love with a Christian co-worker.

Now married with three children, Kalsoom Bibi and her husband Yousuf Bhatti have been shunned by their communities, endured death threats and an abduction, all in the name of religious honour in this conservative Islamic country.

Marriage out of choice remains a taboo in Pakistan, particularly when it involves a partner outside one’s own clan or faith group.

While marriages between different members of Abrahamic faiths - including Judaism, Christianity and Islam - is permitted by law, a Muslim woman may not marry a non-Muslim man.

http://www.gulf-times.com/pakistan/186/details/404655/pakistan%E2%80%99s-interfaith-couples-brave-all-threats-for-forbidden-love

Long life to them.