- Examines the motives of Pakistani families who seek homeland marriages for their children, considering relevant cases that have come before the UK courts, including in relation to breaches of forced marriage protection orders.
There is an urban myth that many Pakistani families will seek a homeland marriage for their children in the belief that the spouse will have a more reliable religious background than that of a potential Muslim partner from the West. Parents may have believed spouses brought from Pakistan would be more traditional, religious, hardworking and family-oriented. However, in practice, Pakistani society does not reflect strict adherence to Islamic values.
Another justification for these marriages is the need to maintain family unity. That reasoning fails to recognise that the Pakistani community of the UK exceeds 1.6 million, making up 2.5% of the population. The true underlying reason may, therefore, be that such a marriage opens the route to successful migration to the UK for the Pakistani cousin (Anitha
