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A British Diplomat's Mission Of Rescue
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She called her boyfriend and spoke in hushed tones. When she hung up, she told Rawlins she had changed her mind. She wanted to stay "one more day" to work things out.
Rawlins asked if she was sure, and she nodded.
The guard silently fetched her suitcase and brought it back inside.
Back in the SUV, Rawlins let out a long breath, her frustration obvious. Rawlins said her main worry is what happens "to girls left behind." Those who enter into forced marriages are often beaten and forced to have sex. Those who divorce are stigmatized -- or even killed.
Driving away from the house, Rawlins said she would try to keep in touch with the woman. But families often take away girls' phones, and it would be harder next time.
"I think it was the wrong decision," Rawlins said. "But we don't force anyone to do anything."
A Predawn Flight Home
The SUV rolled back into Islamabad in the late afternoon and pulled up outside the office of Khalida Salimi, a vivacious woman who runs a shelter for women fleeing violence and forced marriages.
"This is a male-dominated society," Salimi said. "Women have not attained the status of human beings; they are still considered commodities, possessions."
The 17-year-old Scottish girl who had taken refuge in the British Embassy was on her way to the shelter.
Her boyfriend in London -- whom she met by chance at a restaurant counter -- had already wired money for a flight. She was booked to leave for London at 4:40 a.m., in just a few hours.
Working his cellphone, David smoothed things over with the Pakistani police, arranging for release of the boyfriend's father and brother. He would personally go to the airport, despite the hour, to ensure that the girl walked safely onto the plane.
Rawlins headed off in the SUV, more messages waiting. Two more women needed help.
The teenage girl sat in Salimi's office, wearing a black niqab that covered everything but her sad brown eyes.
"I don't want to hide; I want to be free, open," she said in a pronounced Scottish accent. She said she usually wears jeans.
Lowering her niqab enough to reveal her long, dark hair and pretty earrings, she said she is scared of her family. Her brothers, she said, had already beaten up one of her friends because of her, and she believed they would kill her for shaming the family.
"My father would shoot me before letting me go," she said. "My parents say things are screwed up in the U.K., so they want me to marry a guy from here, who doesn't drink and smoke."
"My boyfriend is even a Muslim and from Pakistan, but they don't accept him," she continued. "I am British, but I am Pakistani, too. But why shouldn't I get to decide whom I marry?"
She looked tired, and she bent over several times complaining of stomach cramps. The pressure of recent days had been too much.
"I have left everyone, everything," she said. "I have not been a bad person to anyone. I don't know why this happened to me."
At 9 p.m., she lay down in one of the shelter's beds and pulled a clean, flowered blanket over her.
"When I get home, I will feel better," she said, hoping for a few hours of sleep before the long journey ahead.
