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These days Khaleda Begum, 25, hardly leaves the confines of her one-bedroom flat.And when she does, her heart thumps and she looks over her shoulder in terror. For, in the eyes of her Muslim family, Khaleda has done the unthinkable.Disgusted by her arranged marriage to a cousin-a suitor found for her by her father-she has fled her family home and now, fearful of reprisals, lives under police protection.Khaleda's story makes shocking reading for anyone who is under the misguided belief that such marriages do not regularly go on in Britain today.For Khaleda, who was born in Britain and took GCSEs and A-levels at her British school in the hope of becoming a teacher in this country, was forced by her father to go to Pakistan and marry his cousin-a man 20 years her senior, who spoke no English and whom she had never even met.And according to Khaleda-who today, having escaped "the marriage from hell," lives in hiding with her British partner, Phil-she is far from alone.She says: "Virtually every Asian girl I have ever met has an arranged marriage and the vast majority of them are to their cousins."It is well known within the community that such marriages do produce deformed babies. No one talks about it, but it is one of the reasons why I found such a marriage to someone so closely related to myself to be so very repugnant."Just before I was forced to marry I heard of one of my cousins who'd been forced to marry her auntie's son."They had a baby daughter who died and when they asked doctors why, they were told it was because of inter-breeding. They were told the parents were too closely related to have a normal baby."And this was just one of many instances I would hear of. Anyone who thinks it doesn't happen is in denial. As I know from the most painful and personal experience, it is barbaric and unnatural."Marrying someone who is related to you - and being forced to do so - goes against all your natural urges. It is not racist to tell the truth. What I cannot understand is why it is allowed to go on in this country at all."Khaleda's parents, Miryam and Khalid, came to Britain from Pakistan in the mid-1960s in search of work and a better way of life.The couple already had two sons, now aged 39 and 35, when they settled in a three-bedroom terraced house in the West Midlands near Khalid's job in a steel foundry.A third son, now 25, followed, before their much-wanted daughter, Khaleda, was born."I had a happy childhood.I was especially close to my mother and, until my wedding,I shared a bedroom with her,"she says."I loved it - we would spend hours talking, especially at night.I was the ideal Muslim daughter-I wore traditional Asian clothes and always helped with the housework."Many of Khaleda's extended family lived nearby and weekends were often filled with family parties, some of them wedding celebrations."I was about eight when I remember the first ceremony I went to," says Khaleda."I remember thinking how beautiful the bride's dress was and I looked forward to having my own husband and family."But as I grew older I began to understand that any husband would be chosen for me.It was something I found extremely worrying.My mother's marriage was arranged but my father was cold and dominant, and it wasn't happy."When I was about 12,I remember saying: 'You won't make me have an arranged marriage, will you?' I'd begun to realise that many Asian women were forced to marry, even forced to marry their cousins."The thought of marrying someone I didn't know, and someone who was related to me, was disgusting."To read more go to:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=513757&in_page_id=1879
PS:If you can read the whole story...is worth the reading.THIS is the TRUTH about the treatment of women by many muslim parents...A total HELL for these poor young women....
As in the days of Noah....
