posted on Monday, September 04, 2006 5:57 AM
by
Endie
Misbah, Stornoway and Lahore
The coverage of Misbah Rana's flight to Pakistan has been covered by UK news sources with a tacit understanding that the girl has done something rash, childish or even suspicious. Initial assumptions were clearly that she had been kidnapped or duped. I suspect that this is because London-based journalists don't understand what could make a teenaged girl flee to the potentially restrictive life of a woman in Pakistan.
These people have almost certainly never been to Lewis. Misbah (previously Molly Campbell, and whose clear request to be known by her Pakistani name have been ignored even by the BBC) has fled a beautiful (when it isn't raining) holiday destination. But I have asked two friends from Stornaway what it was like to be a teenager there, and their remarks are not printable. She is now in Lahore which, excitement-wise, compares rather favourably.
As for the rights and wrongs of the custody battle which will ensue, I am not in a position to judge. But I am certain that, had Misbah fled a guardian in Pakistan demanding to be with her mother in Scotland, and to be called Molly, there would be an uproar in Britain were she to be sent back against her will. Petitions, marches, questions in Parliament: the works. If, against her will, she is sent back here, I suspect that we will see rather less furore on the part of the supposedly liberal press.
Misbah and her mother clearly have problems: however little charm Stranraer held as a previous home, I suspect that the move from there to Stornoway and resulting separation from any friends and social networks Misbah had built up is going to be involved. Many teenagers would love to be able to make the gesture of running away to another country to show their resentment of the treatment they have received ("This will show them what they did to me...") or to spite a parent they have grown to dislike. Misbah may very well grow to regret her decision. Or she may not. Teenagers have been known to make decisions that seem rash with hindsight. But the media's treatment and presumptions has been instructive.