{"id":28655,"date":"2019-03-05T16:45:56","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T16:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/?p=28655"},"modified":"2019-03-05T16:51:19","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T16:51:19","slug":"daughter-of-birmingham-drug-smuggler-has-been-released-aged-six","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/05\/daughter-of-birmingham-drug-smuggler-has-been-released-aged-six\/","title":{"rendered":"Daughter of Birmingham Drug Smuggler Has Been Released Aged Six"},"content":{"rendered":"

The daughter of <\/span><\/span>Birmingham heroin mule has finally been released from Pakistan prison which has been home for the entire six years of her life.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Malaika, daughter of Khadija Shah <\/span><\/span>who is g<\/span><\/span>iven a life sentence for attempting to bring \u00a33 million worth of the drug into the UK was born<\/span><\/span> and raised<\/span><\/span>in notorious <\/span><\/span>Adiala<\/span><\/span> Prison.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The little girl<\/span><\/span> has only known the squalid confines of a jail, in Rawalpindi, that was built to contain 1,900 of Pakistan\u2019s most hardened, and violent, prisoners, but currently has a population of 6,000.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span><\/span>he Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed that she was returned to the UK three weeks ago.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Malaika\u2019s is believed <\/span><\/span>to be <\/span><\/span>living with family in the West Midlands.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Her mother, Khadija, has not been so lucky<\/span><\/span> and will remain in <\/span><\/span>Adiala<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For those looking after Malaika, supported by human rights charity Reprieve, the focus is now on easing the youngster into a normal, carefree life. That will take some time.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In a brief statement, a Foreign Office spokesman said: \u201cOur staff continue to assist a British woman jailed in Pakistan. We supported her family in bringing her daughter to the UK, working with them and the Pakistani authorities.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The child will need professional help as she adapts to life in the outside world.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Up until this month she and her mother have survived in a cell shared by six others.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She will need support to overcome the loss of her mother.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Khadija<\/span><\/span> narrowly avoided execution after being caught with two suitcases crammed with heroin in May 2012. Behind bars, the 32-year-old continues to protest her innocence. She claims she was set up, told the luggage contained nothing more sinister than wedding garments.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Khadija claims she was asked to take the cases while on holiday and staying in an Islamabad guesthouse. The killer Class A drug was concealed in the folds of garments \u2013 120 wraps, in all.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Six months pregnant and accompanied by her two children, aged four and five, the former Sheldon Heath Community School student was arrested at Benazir Bhutto International Airport. Her children were detained with her, but flown back to Britain after four-and-a-half month<\/span><\/span>s. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Khadija has spoken to the media about her hand-to-mouth existence in <\/span><\/span>Adiala<\/span><\/span>, which houses 400 women prisoners<\/span><\/span><\/a>. Some, like Khadija, are raising children in cramped cells.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In 2014, she said: \u201cMalaika likes to play with empty wrappers of food items. I usually try to keep our surroundings clean, too.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When Khadija was sentenced, her then lawyer said the case underlined the Pakistan authorities\u2019 poor record in snaring drug barons who recruit vulnerable mules.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cKhadija was asked to carry the bags by an individual and she has given the authorities his details,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe anti-narcotics force seems only interested in picking up the carriers \u2013 women and children \u2013 and it isn\u2019t going after the big fish.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Khadija Shah is not the first West Midlands resident to be <\/span><\/span>caught up<\/span><\/span> into the murky, and potentially deadly, world of drug delivery and distribution abroad.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The daughter of Birmingham heroin mule has finally been released from Pakistan prison which has been home for the entire six years of her life. Malaika, daughter of Khadija Shah who is given a life sentence for attempting to bring \u00a33 million worth of the drug into the UK was born and raisedin notorious Adiala […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}