A MOTHER, who said she endured years of hell in an arranged marriage and lost two of her four children in a house fire, is desperate to get her old life back in Banbury.

British-born Asma Akhtar and her children were forced to stay in Pakistan by her 36-year-old husband, Muhammed, when a family holiday in April 2007 turned into a nightmare.

He seized their travel documents and told 28-year-old Mrs Akhtar and their children – Haleema Akhtar, nine; Ali Zamurad, six; Hajrah Akhtar, five, and Haider Zamurad, four, that Pakistan was to be their new home.

Mrs Akhtar, who had been training as a teacher and worked at St Leonards School, Banbury, tried to get help from the High Commission and Foreign Office, but to no avail.

Her IT engineer husband took out an injunction, which meant the children’s names were added to a database preventing them leaving the country.

But she fled her husband’s family home and moved with the children to a women’s refuge.

The couple, who had an arranged marriage 12 years ago, spent months locked in a bitter custody battle. It ended in stalemate.

Mrs Akhtar reluctantly agreed to stay in Pakistan, but in October last year there was a suspected arson attack on her home in which her children, Ali Zamurad, six, and Hajrah Akhtar, five, both died.

Afterwards Mrs Akhtar borrowed money and paid officials to take her other two children off a database so they could leave the country.

She is currently living in Lancashire, with her parents, but wants her old life back in Banbury, where she believes she can bring stability to her remaining two children’s lives.

Speaking to the Banbury Cake she criticised the Foreign Office for failing to do enough and now plans lodge an official complaint.

Mrs Akhtar said: “I told the Foreign Office that my husband had threatened to kill me. I told them I was in imminent danger – but nobody listened. The Foreign Office could have done something.

“I want my home back and the kids to go back to school. I really like Banbury.”

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said it had to act in line with Pakistani law.

She added: “The welfare of Mrs Akhtar and her children was always a priority for the FCO. We provided consular advice and assistance from the beginning.”