PAKISTAN: MAN AT THE CENTRE OF A DISPUTED PAKISTANI ROMANCE HAS BEEN SHOT AFTER APPEARING IN COURT ON CHARGES OF ABDUCTION

Record ID: 496469

  • Title: PAKISTAN: MAN AT THE CENTRE OF A DISPUTED PAKISTANI ROMANCE HAS BEEN SHOT AFTER APPEARING IN COURT ON CHARGES OF ABDUCTION
  • Date: 5th March 1998
  • Summary: KARACHI, PAKISTAN (MARCH 4, 1998) 1. LV EXTERIOR OF THE EMERGENCY WARD OF THE HOSPITAL 0.05 2. SV SECURITY PERSONNEL AND REPORTERS STANDING OUTSIDE THE GATE OF THE EMERGENCY WARD 0.10 3. SV SECURITY PERSONNEL GOING INTO HOSPITAL 0.22 4. SV/LV PEOPLE WAITING OUTSIDE THE HOSPITAL (2 SHOTS) 0.30 5. SV MORE SECURITY PERSONNEL GOING INTO HOSPITAL 0.44 6. SV INJURED POLICEMAN BEING WHEELED OUT OF THE EMERGENCY WARD 0.57 7. LV OF HOSPITAL EMERGENCY WARD (EXTRIOR) 1.02 8. SV AHSAN BEING MOVED TO THE INTENSIVE CARE WARD AFTER BEING IN OPERATING THEATRE 1.16 9. PRESS CLIPPINGS SHOWING AHSAN BEING ESCORTED TO THE COURT / CLIPPINGS SHOWING POLICEMEN SITTING NEAR AN INJURED AHSAN LYING ON THE FLOOR 1.28 RECENT 10. LV EXTERIOR OF PAKISTAN'S SUPREME COURT 1.33 11. SLV/SV POLICEMEN STANDING OUTSIDE / PEOPLE WAITING (3 SHOTS) 1.46 12. SLV PEOPLE WAITING INSIDE COURTHOUSE 1.50 13. CU BOARD OF CHIEF HUSTICE OUTSIDE HIS ROOM 1.54 14. TV/SV IFFAT AFRIDI (IN A VEIL), ESCORTED BY SECURITY MEN (3 SHOTS) 2.20 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 20th March 1998 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KARACHI, PAKISTAN
  • City:
  • Country: Pakistan ASIA
  • Reuters ID: LVAE8FX94FHP42R2PDDEZ0IAZJ0E
  • Story Text: The man at the centre of a disputed Pakistani romance has been shot and critically wounded after he appeared in court to face charges of abducting his sweetheart.

    Kanwar Ahsan was shot outside a Karachi courthouse on Wednesday (March 4) as he appeared to face charges of abduction.

    Doctors said Ahsan was hit in the chest, abdomen and leg but was conscious when taken to the Civil Hospital in Karachi.His condition was described as critical.

    Police arrested seven members of the girl's family after the incident, in which three policemen were also wounded.

    The shooting of 30-year-old Ahsan is yet another twist in a romance that has led to violent street protests, a one-day strike and has captivated the media.

    Ahsan, who is from the Urdu-speaking Mohajir community, says he and girlfriend, Riffat Afridi, were married after eloping in February.

    But her family, which is from the Pakhtoon community, has accused him of abducting Afridi, 19, at gunpoint and have also produced a man they say she was already married to.

    Those arrested included the girl's father, her brother and the man who says he is Afridi's husband.

    Afridi, who is also in police custody, said in a statement last month that she married Ahsan of her own free will.

    Ahsan told reporters from his cell this month that he feared for his life after leaders of the Pakhtoon community accused him of abducting the girl.

    Militant Pakhtoons staged a one-day strike in Karachi last month and held demonstrations in which two people were killed and more than a dozen were injured, including six police.


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