Pakistan couple in Britain’s first Muslim lesbian tie-up

Two former students from Pakistan have defied death threats to tie the knot in Britain’s first Muslim lesbian civil partnership.Rehana Kausar, 34, and Sobia Kamar, 29, took their vows at a registry office in Leeds and instantly applied for political asylum in UK, according to local media reports.

‘This country allows us rights and it’s a very personal decision that we have taken. It’s no one’s business as to what we do with our personal lives,’ Kausar, originally from Lahore, told the Birmingham-based Sunday Mercury newspaper. 

‘The problem with Pakistan is that everyone believes he is in charge of other people lives and can best decide about the morals of others but that's not the right approach. We are in this state because of our clergy, who have hijacked our society, which was once tolerant and respected individuals freedoms,’ she added.

Kamar, originally from Mirpur in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, described her partner as her ‘soul mate’. Relatives of the couple said the women had received death threats both in UK and from their native Pakistan, where homosexuality is still deemed illegal under Pakistani law.

During the ceremony earlier this month, the couple reportedly told the registrar they had met three years ago while studying business and health care management, having travelled to the country on student visas, and had been living together in South Yorkshire for about a year.