Dawn newspaper article, November, 1983

From Chitral to New York

With Love and Hate


by Muhammad Ali Siddiqi

The baby's name is Shameema. She is of mixed Pakistani-American heritage held (top right) by her grandmother (right below) by the father. The mother is conspicuous by her absence. The photos were taken in the United States, with the mother either in "wrongful confinement", as alleged, or safe and sound thousands of miles away in a snow-bound valley in Pakistan: Chitral to be specific.

Does the scenario ring a bell? Yes, it does: the mother is Khonza Gul, whose marriage to a neo-Muslim American national, Ismail Sloan, hit international headlines and galvanized the Pakistani community in America into organizing a "Khonza League Defense Committee".

Seemingly, it is one of those nmatrimonial cases that abound in our world - a man and his wife not getting along well. But there is more to it, with such pathos, drama and intrigue that even the good old Sherlock Holmes, if he were to shoot alive out of our TV sets, would not be able to say with confidence, "My dead Watson, this is something basic!"

There are traps everywhere, if you ever try to put the pieces together, and the parties appear totally innocent or utterly unscrupulous, depending on which side you are on. I have, therefore, kept my fingers crossed.

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