The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 6

6 1 HOME NEWS The Guardian Monday March 25 1996 Rescue bid after girl 'forced into marriage' Erlend Clouston Maev Kennedy on the dilemma facing a church with a tomb relic too valuable for it to ever display refused to sign her marriage document. Earlier Rifat, due to start an honours degree in biosciences at Glasgow Caledonian university, was ordered to abandon her current fiance and marry an illiterate cousin aged 27. Despite initial reluctance, she is now apparently reconciled to the union. The mother, Nazia, and Somera are now in hiding following their return to the UK after the intervention of Pakistani police, alerted by Mrs Haq's outraged relatives. Mr Sarwar, a cash-and-carry millionaire, hopes to become Labour's candidate for the Govan constituency.

The councillor for the Pollok-shields district described the behaviour of Mr Haq, whom he knows, as appalling. "It's difficult to believe that a father could treat his family like this." Mr Haq, a businessman who operated in Glasgow for 20 years before returning east last summer, could face a charge of procuring his daughter for under-age sex. Police said that a report would shortly be delivered to the Glasgow procurator fiscal. As Britain has no extradition treaty with Pakistan, Mr Haq's fate will depend on the attitude of that country's government. Under Islamic law as it operates in Pakistan, women can only be married over the age of 16 and never against their will.

The Foreign Office said it had asked the High Commission in Islamabad to make inquiries. The Barendyne Helm (above left), which dates from around 1500 and once hung over its owner's tomb in the village church main photograph sean smith Legal joust looms over plan to sell medieval helm A GLASGOW councillor flies to Pakistan tomorrow in an attempt to rescue a Strathclyde girl aged 14 from her forced marriage to a shopkeeper aged 40. Mohammad Sarwar has already arranged for six armed guards to protect the house where Nazia Haq, her mother, and younger sister are taking refuge after a summer holiday turned into a nightmare of imprisonment, beatings, and involuntary nuptials. Mr Sarwar said yesterday: "My first priority is to ensure the women's safety." Police confirmed that they had been investigating since July the apparent abduction of four female members of the Haq family. Fatima Haq, aged 48, and her three daughters, Nazia, Rifat, aged 20, and Somera, aged nine, were allegedly seized by kidnappers wielding hockey-sticks shortly after travelling from the UK to the north Pakistan city of Multan.

Their capture was apparently co-ordinated by Abdul Haq, aged 59, who had followed his wife and daughters. Two weeks later, Nazia, a second-year pupil at Glasgow's Hillhead High school, and then aged 13, was married to her father's nephew, Mohammad Iqbal. It is alleged that in the days preceding the ceremony the women were drugged and beaten and Nazia was warned that her mother would he shot if she AN exceptionally rare medieval jousting helm is being sold by an Oxfordshire church, despite doubts about the legality of such sales. The helm, which originally hung above the tomb of Sir William Barendyne, has been offered to the Royal Armouries for 80,000 a fraction of its value on the open market because the church wants it to remain on public display in this country. It is already on display at the new Armouries museum in Leeds, opened by the Queen a week ago.

The National Art Collections Fund has offered the Armouries a 10,000 grant, subject to being satisfied about the sale's legality. However, one expert warned that its sale would set a dangerous precedent for the disposal of other church treasures. The Barendyne Helm, made in England around 1500, has been on loan to the Armouries at the Tower of London for more than 20 years. Ian Eaves, the keeper of armour, described it as "the greatest piece I have been instrumental in acquiring in my period at the Funerary arms, like tombstones and memorials, are strictly speaking not the property of the churches, but of the families which placed them there. Other ecclesiastical courts have held that such armour can only be sold if the heir-at-law is traced.

The rector and church wardens of St Peter's, Great Haselcy, have been given permission by the diocese of Oxford to sell the helm, although no heir has been traced. The Reverend Nigel Bryan, who took over the parish with the neighbouring Great Milton 18 months ago, said insurance requirements made it impossible for a piece of such value to be displayed in the church. He and his his wardens agreed it should be sold. The parish only has 46 people on the electoral register, and the 12th-century church needs expensive repairs. Claude Blair, former keeper of metalwork at the Victoria and Albert museum in London, and a past president of the Meyrick Society of scholars of armour, whose emblem is the Barendyne helm, said he was very sad to see churches selling such objects.

He warned that the argument that the helm was now divorced from its church setting and could never be shown there set a dangerous precedent for other church valuables, such as silver, which have been put on display in treasuries. It could now be argued they should be sold as the connection with their churches was permanently broken. The helm is extremely plain, but described by Mr Eaves as "a big beast with tremendous It is frog-mouthed because just before the moment of impact between the two mounted, lance-bearing jousters, the head was lifted leaving the wearer fighting blind, but completely protecting the eyes. and better treatment. Screening to pick up breast cancer at an early, treatable, stage is thought to be having an effect in countries where it has been in place for a number of years, but the researchers say it is too soon yet to quantify its effect in Britain.

Changes in childbearing patterns may also be a playing a role. It is known that having children while young 'No clear cause' in breast cancer for fall were 13,026 deaths attributed to breast cancer in 1993, compared to 14,008 in 1989. The new study, by Carol Hermon and Valerie Beral, from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, which is published in the British Journal of looks at 20 countries, analysing mortality rates between 1950 and 1992, and concludes that in 16 there has been a levelling'off cancer scientists say it is now being echoed in many neighbouring countries although not all. Breast cancer deaths in England and Wales peaked in 1986 and 1987 at around 57 per 100,000 women. They have beenfalling-since-and-are now-around 50 per 100,000 women.

By 1993, deaths were 10 per cent lower than in 1985-89. In numerical terms, there or a fall in deaths. The fall is most marked among women under 50. The four countries not showing a fall are Belgium, Hungary, Poland and Spain, but this may be because they had comparatively low rates to begin with. The researchers say a number of factors may be responsible for the fall, chief of which are earlier diagnosis Mohammad Sarwar 'priority is the women's safety' NUS leaders face grants battle Chris Mihlll Medical Correspondent DEATH rates from breast cancer are falling in England and Wales and in other Western countries, although researchers are unclear why, a report published today says.

The fall in this country has been well documented, but Easy teem to lowest monthly (re Fa KiniiftHimiii Gary Younge reports on a second attempt by Blairites to ditch free education policy jrberpunk The Barendyne Helm is the best of only five such surviving pieces. The others are in St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, the Bargello Museum in Florence, Sherborne Castle in Dorset and the Wallace Collection in Hertford House, central London. Almost nothing is known of Sir William Barendyne, except that his tomb records he was three times high sheriff of Oxfordshire. But Mr Eaves said: "The helm shows clear signs of having been used, and has the marks where it was struck by a lance, so you might wonder how good he was." deaths is protective, and this could be working through into the lower rates of breast cancer being seen in postwar mothers. The average age at first birth, and the number of childless women, decreased after the second world war.

Scientists say it is not known if the modern shift towards having babies later in life will affect breast cancer rates in the future. last May, will be debated again tomorrow. Both sides admit the vote will be close, so the support of the growing number of non-aligned delegates will be decisive. With the expansion in student numbers and erosion of the grant over the past five years, Labour say the current NUS policy would cost more than 10 billion. Jim Murphy, the union president and a member of Labour Students, said: "The reality is we have a policy that nobody else supports.

The NUS has to decide whether it wants to have any influence over political parties or go on sloganising." national significance, should not funded by a local council. The Housing Association, a charity providing subsidised housing, said it wants the centre to pay a commercial rent of 6,000 a year. "We do not think it is our job to pay for voluntary organisations," said spokesman Mick Sweeney. But Solueig Francis, a spokeswoman for the women's centre, said: "We were shocked and bewildered that a community housing organisation could behave like a property developer." Last year, the centre took out the first private rape prosecution in England, and in another case they helped two prostitutes who the Crown Prosecution Service had turned away resulting in a man being sentenced to 14 years for rape. Orange Prize casts Opponents say the move is an attempt by the leadership to 'soften up' student opinion in the likely run-up to a Labour government.

"They have decided they do not want a policy that will embarrass a Labour government and are laying down dead before we've even got one," said Rosie Woods, a NUS executive member and supporter of Left Unity, the student wing of the Trotskyist group, Socialist Organiser. Opposition is not confined to the hard left. One Labour insider on the centre of the party said: "It will make it easier for the party, but that is not the NUS's job and it could backfire, the most apoli-ticised student can see that it is not in his interests to drop support for grants." Uses Europe Online for bargain hunting, queue jumping and blowing away alien mutants Mid discussion groups, entertainment and education, travel md shopping services all (or the. on the lute met. For help, advice and one month's free trial including 10 hours access, call (rcc.

now. It's easy to STUDENTS gather in Blackpool today for an explosive NUS conference as the Blairite leadership attempts to overturn the union's support for the principle of free education. Labour Students on the executive aim to ditch the policy of restoring grants to their 1979 level and uprating them in line with inflation. They want to replace grants with a system of partnership funding in which student costs are financed by a mixture of taxpayers, businesses and the students. The change, defeated at a special conference in Derby get into Europe Online 0800 10 6610 It's a way of life ADVERTISEMENT Rape campaigners' centre faces eviction in rent row Senior Citizens with money in the bank should read this before it's too late The conference is taking place against a backdrop of a massive increase in student poverty and a trend towards making students bear the brunt of government cuts.

Grants have been cut by 20 per cent in the past two years. An NUS Values For Money survey in February last year found one in three students missed meals because of hardship, one in four considered dropping out, one in three worked part-time during term and one in two thought their financial situation was having an adverse effect upon their academic work. A report from the British Medical Association found that university medical centres were dealing with increases in stress-related illness and eating disorders. pitfalls to avoid. It shows how you can protect your home from being sold to pay for care costs.

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