Pakistan, Oct. 5 -- The Sindh High Court has directed police to provide necessary protection to the life, honour and property of a newlywed couple who married of their own free will. The woman's family, according to the petition, opposed the marriage and threatened the couple, while an FIR has already been registered in Umerkot. The investigating officer has recorded Sania's statement and must place this report before the magistrate. The case comes only months after two other free-will couples in Sindh and Karachi were attacked after appearing before courts to affirm that their marriages were voluntary.

In May, Nadia Aslam and Najeeullah Aziz were shot dead in Karachi soon after Nadia told a Malir court that she had married voluntarily. ...