POLICE tried to stop a plane bound for Pakistan from taking off after claims that an expectant mother was being forced to leave the country.

Today relatives of Selina Ali, 20, said that she had now been stranded in Pakistan with her poorly, premature baby daughter after her husband's family took her passport.

Her husband's Blackburn family denied the claim but said he would refuse to sign a new passport application, which would allow her to return to the UK, because the couple have now split up.

The case has prompted a major inquiry involving police, Interpol, the Pakistan authorities and the Home and Foreign Office.

Today a spokesman for the Foreign Office could only say: "We are investigating this case."

Selina married Shafkat Ali two years ago in an arranged marriage in Pakistan and came to Blackburn to live with him and his family in Park Avenue.

Blackburn police became concerned after her sister, Hasmet Jan, who lives in London, phoned them to say her sister was being forced onto a Pakistan International Airway flight from Manchester to Islamabad.

She was with her mother-in-law, Sufdar, who has since returned to the UK.

Sergeant John Rigby, from the minorities team at Blackburn police said officers were very concerned and said: "Inquiries are currently being conducted through Interpol after claims were made that she was taken from this country under duress by her mother-in-law and that her passport was taken from her.

"When officers were informed that she was at the airport, attempts were made to stop the flight. But we received the information too late and the flight had already left.

"Now we are trying to establish what exactly has happened with help from Interpol, the Pakistan authorities and the Home and Foreign Office.

"But as Mrs Ali is a Pakistani national and she is currently in Pakistan it is taking rather a long time.

"We do need to speak to Mrs Ali in Pakistan to verify the claims that have been made by other members of her family.

"This is an on-going investigation and the next step is to get evidence from the victim herself."

Mrs Ali is now living in Jhelum, Pakistan, with her mother and father.

But her brother Iftikhar and cousin Arif Khan, who both live in Blackburn, said she was desperate to return to the town to live in Woodville Road with her brother and get specialist medical care for her daughter..

Mr Kahn has visited her in Pakistan since she flew there on July 31 and said he is also worried about the health of his neice.

He said: "As far as we are concerned she was forced to get on that plane.

"She was terrified that if she didn't fly to Pakistan she would be divorced which is a major taboo in our culture.

"Selina was heavily pregnant and was in no fit state to fly.

"The baby was born two months premature and has really bad breathing difficulties. Selina just cried and cried for a week and is just desperate to get back to Blackburn so her baby can get proper health care.

"She is stranded there."

Her brother Iftikhar added: "All my family are worried about what will happen to her and her baby.

"Her visa runs to June 2006 so she must be allowed to return."

A spokesman for the Ali family, who wished to remain anonymous, said they had been contacted by Interpol while still in Pakistan and would welcome any further police investigation as they "had nothing to hide."

He said: "We do not have Selina's passport and want nothing more to do with her.

"She wanted to go to Pakistan to see her parents and was not forced.

"At the airport she was met by her father and brother and taken away. We have not seen her since.

"She needs Shafkat's signature for a new passport or visa to prove he is her husband but he will never sign it now."