Poker Hostage Rumors Hit Online News

In southern Pakistan a teenage girl is appealing to the authorities to avoid being given over to a middle aged relative, according to recent online news reports, in payment of a debt that occurred when her late father lost in a game of poker. The game took place when Rasheeda was two years old, according to her mother Nooran, who said that the girl's father ended up in 10 000 rupees worth of debt to Lal Haider, now 45. When the man couldn't pay, he offered his daughter to Haider when she was older. It is unknown if the authorities have intervened on behalf of the teenager.