A Pakistani father attempted to sell his own three-year-old daughter as a child bride to a 60-year-old man.
Police arrested Abdul Baqi, from the border city of Chaman in Balochistan, sold his daughter to Salah Uddin for 2.5million Pakistani rupees (£6,802).
The marriage is part of an “ancient tradition” called “walwar”, where the family of the bride receives funds for marrying off his daughter.
Local authorities quickly investigated the incident – with Balochistan having outlawed child marriage only last year.
Investigators soon found that while the walwar had been agreed on paper, no money had changed hands.
Two weeks before the arranged marriage, his older daughter, teenage Shukria Bibi, was allegedly beaten to death by her husband and Mr Uddin’s 30-year-old son, Kamran.
According to the police report, Kamran was with Shukria Bibi, believed to be 14 or 15 years old, when she repeatedly looked outside at people on the road.
After another instance of her looking outside, Kamran became enraged and beat her to death with iron rods, according to HUM news.
PICTURED: Pakistan-Afghanistan border on Chaman, Balochistan. The region only banned child marriage in 2025
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WIKIMEDIA / ZAREEFKHANN
The couple had been married for a year before the death, the Pakistani news outlet added.
Pakistan police are now investigating if the killing was connected to the marriage of the younger daughter.
Mr Baqi told a local blogger he had been pressured by Mr Uddin to arrange a second walwar.
Mr Uddin demanded Mr Baqi’s eight-year-old daughter be wed to him rather than his three-year-old, and a dispute soon emerged.
CHILD MARRIAGE – READ MORE:
PICTURED: Afghan nationals crossing the border into Pakistan
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GETTY
The arrangement does not necessarily mean she would have to live with Mr Uddin immediately, but would be forbidden from marrying another person in adulthood.
Mr Uddin is missing and authorities are now searching for him.
Chaman Police Subdivisional Police Officer Abdul Jabbar Khan told The Media Line the three-year-old and her mother have now been placed under police protection.
The police chief also said this was the only walwar-related case currently under investigation.
Balochistan is the most recent Pakistani province to ban child marriages, but before the ban, nearly two-thirds of couplings happened before the age of 18, according to a survey by charity Save the Children.
Nearly 40 per cent of them happened before the age of 16, the same survey found.
A “community member” previously told the charity: “In our culture, it’s believed that the earlier a girl is married, the better it is for her honour and the family’s reputation.”
Khuram Gondal, the charity’s country director, said the law was a “landmark moment for children in Balochistan and a historic moment for child rights”.
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