British girl in custody row says she loves Islam

Lahore, Pakistan, Sep 3 (Reuters) A 12-year-old Scottish girl at the centre of a tug-of-love between her parents said in Pakistan today that her British mother had tried to convert her from Islam against her will.

''She wants to bring me up as a Christian. I do not want to be a Christian. I love Scotland, but I love Islam more,'' said Molly Campbell, reading from a statement during a news conference in Pakistan's eastern city Lahore.

''I love my religion. I love my father. I did not see my sister and brothers while living with my mum, so I came here to Pakistan,'' the girl said in response to reporters' questions.

A day earlier, a Pakistani court awarded temporary custody of Molly Campbell to her father, Sajad Ahmed Rana, after she told a judge that she wanted to live in the Muslim country.

The court also invited the mother to a second hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

British police launched an investigation after Campbell left her mother -- her legal guardian -- in the Western Isles of Scotland to travel to Lahore with her father and elder sister.

Campbell's mother, Louise, has made an emotional plea for her daughter to return home, while her grandmother was quoted in British newspapers as saying she thought the girl could be forced into an arranged marriage.

But the girl, who is also known as Misbah Iram Rana, rejected the impression. ''My father has never asked me to marry anyone. Indeed, he has told me in so many words that I'm absolutely free to marry anyone of my own choice when the time comes.'' Rana also read a statement to the news conference in which he said his ex-wife's outlook had been poisoned by a ''lunatic fringe of white racists'' against brown and black people and Islam, and she required treatment after suffering a mental breakdown.

But, Rana, who has British citizenship, said he was ready to give the mother access to her daughter in Pakistan.

''I'm even prepared to pay her travel and lodging expenses if she wants to come to Lahore to meet her daughter.'' There are about 400 cases of British children of Pakistani descent being abducted and brought to Pakistan every year, said an official at the British High Commission in Islamabad.

Most of the cases are resolved under an agreement signed by Pakistan and Britain in 2003.

REUTERS AB HT2107