Misbah speaks - and leaves the media with red faces
You heard it here first folks.
From the beginning, the friends and relatives of the people at the centre of this have been saying that there is more to this than was being reported.
Even looking at Louise’s own statement from Tuesday is was clear that this was not a case of kidnap as was being portrayed. The fact that Misbah’s own siblings were helping her and their father should have provoked some kind of thinking independent of lazy racism.
I was being told that the family’s side of the story could not be properly told due to media rules. At the same time, there seemed to be no compunction in circulating the cheap-shot accusation of a forced marriage just because the father was Pakistani. I hope the Daily Record particularly are feeling stupid - because they look stupid.
Still, despite Misbah’s insistence that her name is not Molly, and it certainly isn’t Campbell – Louise’s boyfriend’s name – the media are still insisting on not using her real name. It’s still only two syllables, it should not be this difficult.
As well as the overt problem, there is an mechanical one too. It's again abundantly clear that none of the Scottish media have anyone working in their newsrooms who can penetrate properly into the Asian and Muslim communities. Instead, commentary is made from a distance in what in this case turned out to be a prejudiced manner. Here it was the case of one family. However, there are also issues of national importance, sometimes affected by international events, that need a better linkup.
Searching questions have to be asked in this country too about the role of fathers. This case certainly belongs in the list of actions fathers have taken to be with their children. In the last couple of years we’ve seen Batman scale Buckingham Palace and a condom filled with purple flour thrown at the prime minister over this. Sajad Rana had a recourse none of these fathers had.
Sajad had Misbah with him for five years after divorcing Louise, due to her personal problems. Louise then took court action to take custody of Misbah, and for long periods Sajad did not even know where in the country she was, let alone have access. This shouldn’t have been allowed to happen, and this whole saga could have been avoided.

Molly Campbell, also known as Misbah Iram Ahmed Rana, went missing from her mother's home in the Hebridean island of Lewis last week.

In court in Lahore, she signed a statement saying she arrived in Pakistan under her own free will.

The judge granted Molly's father temporary custody until Wednesday.

The statement, presented to the court by the family's lawyer Mohammed Basit, said: "I was not kidnapped. I have arrived in Pakistan to live with my father."
The judge, Amir Javed Rana, awarded Molly's father custody until Wednesday, when a hearing will be held to decide guardianship and give time for her Scottish mother to attend.

Media conference

Police investigating the circumstances surrounding her move to Pakistan said they have sent a report to prosecutors.

Northern Constabulary said it had carried out its investigation and a report has been sent to the procurator fiscal at Stornoway.

Molly had been picked up by her 18-year-old sister, Tahmina, and the pair flew to Glasgow from Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. They then flew to Lahore with their father.

Speaking at a media conference in Lahore on Friday, Molly said she had asked Tahmina to take her to Pakistan.

She said: "It was my own choice. I asked my sister if I could go. I went with my sister. I would like to stay in Pakistan with my father and my name isn't Molly, it is Misbah."