Lahore Police raided the party yesterday as it violated a rule set by the Punjab government for all marriage functions to end by 10 pm. Witnesses said the police and officials of the city district government reached the venue in Lahore Cantonment at 10.30 pm and asked people to end the party.
The officials exchanged harsh words with the family and friends of the newlywed couple, triggering a scuffle. Friends of the couple escorted the singer and her businessman husband and helped them evade arrest. According to the law, the bridegroom can be arrested for not complying with government orders for ending the party at 10 pm.
Police later registered a case against Annie's father-in-law and 15 of her relatives and friends for "attacking" police personnel and hampering official business.
Annie, who has also performed in India, was rushed to a hospital from the party as her condition deteriorated because of the humiliation meted out to the couple and their families.
"It was a big day in our life but the police ruined it. My wife was taken to hospital as she could not bear the humiliation and went into shock," her husband Malik Nauraz Awan told reporters. He asked her fans to pray for her health.
Awan said he had shifted his business from abroad to Pakistan but yesterday's events had convinced him that respectable people could not stay here.
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"Businessmen already are leaving this country because of various reasons," he said.
He alleged that police had demanded Rs 1.5 million from his family for allowing them to continue with the party. "I would have given them this money in charity had they asked for it before the start of the function. I can't express my anguish," he said.
Superintendent of Police Maroof Wala denied the allegations, saying police had acted according to the law.