Pakistani court delays handover of British girl

LAHORE, Dec 4 (Reuters) A Pakistani court adjourned today a hearing into an appeal by the father of a British girl at the centre of a custody dispute, delaying her handover to British authorities and her return to her mother in Scotland.

Police in Britain launched an investigation in August after 12-year-old Molly Campbell left her mother in the Western Isles of Scotland to travel to the Pakistani city of Lahore to be with her father.

A court in Lahore last Wednesday ordered the girl, known by the Pakistani side of her family as Misbah Irum Ahmed Rana, to be handed over to the British High Commission within seven days and returned to her mother in Scotland.

Her father, Sajad Ahmed Rana, on Saturday lodged an appeal against that decision.

The Lahore High Court today adjourned the appeal hearing to consider the case, and said the girl's handover should be delayed until Friday, a lawyer for the father said.

''We have been given relief until Friday. Misbah Irum will stay with her father until that time,'' said lawyer, Mehmoob Hussain Chaudhry.

The girl says she wants to stay in Pakistan with her father.

REUTERS SSC HS1525