there IS a difference

between FORCED marriage and arranged marriage. quite a big one. (i happen to work in an industry that has a LOT of people from india in it. india born as well as those born here of indian descent. as a culture, everyone, those new to this country and those born here seem to accept ARRANGED marriages. that is fine with me as long as everyone consents. to be FORCED to marry someone, well that's a whole OTHER story. and yes the story below is NOT about people of indian descent. i'm just pointing out the difference between FORCED and arranged). i'm not saying this is a pakistani happening only. warren jeffs ring a bell with anyone?

A British Diplomat's Mission Of Rescue

Forced Marriages in Pakistan Prevented

By Mary Jordan

Washington Post Foreign Service
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Helen Rawlins climbed into her Toyota Land Cruiser at 7:30 in the morning, off to rescue another woman.

The British diplomat settled into the back seat as she whizzed by the baking bustle of the Pakistani countryside: the women in colorful head scarves sitting in three-wheeled rickshaws, donkey carts piled high with mangoes, and elaborately painted buses where women sit apart from men.

Rawlins knew a tense confrontation awaited. Lately, she had been making a trip such as this once a week -- to help British women of Pakistani descent lured to this country and forced, sometimes at gunpoint, into marriage.................