More than one broken heart here

Rabiah Memon is worried about her sister.

That’s because Mariah Memon lives a world away, in more ways than one, and fears for her safety.

Mariah has stopped going to work because a co-worker who once wanted to marry her is now threatening to harm her, according to police in Karachi, Pakistan.

Rabiah said Kamran Aziz was arrested on Thursday, but it’s not clear how long he may be detained.

“It’s been a rollercoaster ride for her the last few days,” said Rabiah, who graduated from Eastern New Mexico University in 2010 after moving to the United States from her native Karachi in 2006.

The relationship between Mariah and Aziz started routinely enough. They met at the pharmaceutical company where they both work.

“It was a professional relationship,” Rabiah said. “Then he started approaching her. She thought he was nice; she thought he was a good person. Then he started saying he wanted to marry her.”

Mariah did not discourage him at first, but as Rabiah explained, a marriage proposal in her family undergoes close scrutiny before it’s accepted.

Mariah gave Aziz contact information for her family in America, which includes Rabiah and their mother, who live in Fort Worth now, and a brother, a student at ENMU. But as the Memons talked with the man, gathered information about his background and learned details from Mariah, they began to have concern.

They found information suggesting Aziz had been married before and had children that Mariah did not know about.

Rabiah picked up other troubling clues in talking with her sister.

“He did not want her talking to certain people,” Rabiah said. “If she was in a meeting he would text her and say ‘Why are you taking so long.’

“She thought he was just being caring. To me it seemed he was being very controlling. For me, there were major red flags.”

After hearing the family’s concerns, Mariah asked her mother to tell Aziz he would not be accepted as Mariah’s husband.

That, according to Rabiah and media reports out of Karachi, is when Mariah became afraid.

“At first he said he was feeling suicidal,” Rabiah said. At one point, “he pretended to be his driver and told my sister that his boss had died.”

The Express Tribune in Karachi reported Aziz and another man impersonated police officers and made threats against Mariah for rebuking the marriage proposal.

Then, Rabiah said, the family in America began receiving phone calls “telling my mom he was going to her home and killing her children.”

The Dunya News in Karachi reported early last week that “a case has been filed” against Aziz and police were searching for him.

Rabiah said the family was notified Friday of Aziz’ incarceration, “but we are not sure for how long he will stay behind bars.”

The series of events would be troubling for any woman in any country, but especially in Pakistan, where women are sometimes expected to be subordinate to men.

“Even within the company where they work they are putting a lot of pressure on her,” Rabiah said. “The boss and everybody around her are saying he is a good guy. He (Aziz) is trying to get other people in the company to convince her to marry him.”

While Pakistan has made strides regarding women’s rights in recent decades, the BBC News reported last year that Pakistan ranked 147th in a list of 188 countries when comparing women’s health, education, political empowerment and economic status.

“This is mainly because Pakistan is a heavily patriarchal society with a strong feudal value system, in which women are treated as domestic property,” BBC News reported.

The headline in The Express Tribune story referenced Aziz as a “broken-hearted” man.

The long-term goal is for all five of Rabiah’s siblings who remain in Pakistan to move to the United States. They have all applied for Visas, but the process could take years, Rabiah said.

In the meantime, Rabiah said she wants to help all women in her country find a stronger voice.

“This is not just about my sister,” she said. “It’s about all of the other women who are being harassed. We need to help them. And they cannot be afraid to speak out or this will continue.”

David Stevens is editor for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at: [email protected]