[1]Love marriages, though a social taboo in Pakistan, are on the rise in the country's capital with social networking sites contributing to their popularity in a big way.
About 250 court marriages were solemnised in 2010 but during the first eight months of 2011, already there were 240 court marriages, a number expected to cross 300 by coming December, Dawn news reported.
Social media networking is contributing to court marriages, according to Akhtar Mehmood, an Islamabad-based family court lawyer. He said most of the couples approaching him for court marriage were users of facebook, twitter, HI-FI or other social networking sites.
"In some cases of court marriages, girls from rural areas have chosen rich married men as their life partners," he added. Linking increase in love marriages with social networking websites, Wahaj Siraj, convener Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISP), said during the last one year, the number of internet users has increased by 10 per cent in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
"Currently total number of internet users in Islamabad and Rawalpindi is 500,000 and it is gradually increasing," he said.
Barrister Afzal Hussain, another family court lawyer, supports the notion that due to social media networking, love marriages are on the rise but added that the couples face threats along with registration of abduction cases and lengthy litigation.
He said, sometimes the wife is forced to record statements against the husband, putting the ‘innocent man behind the bar’.
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