ISLAMABAD, Jan 2: The divorce rate remained high in the capital in the year 2001, according to the data complied by the local conciliation court.

The judge of the court, Mian Mohammad Akram Awan, told this scribe on Wednesday that the rate of divorce in Islamabad — at 200 divorces a year — was the highest in the country.

The judge said the people, a majority of whom belonged to well-off families, mostly approached the court for divorce, second marriage and maintenance allowance for women in case of second marriage or divorce.

According to the report of the conciliation court, 213 applications had been filed in 2001. Of the total, 185 cases were of divorce, 15 of second marriage and six of maintenance allowance while seven were described as miscellaneous cases.

The data said 48 cases had been disposed of, including 39 divorce and three second-marriage cases, one maintenance allowance case and five miscellaneous cases.

It might be mentioned here that in the year 2000, a total of 200 cases were filed in the conciliation court, including 182 divorce, eight second-marriage, five maintenance allowance and five miscellaneous cases.

The judge of the court said that under the Muslim Family Laws, the court was bound to give a three-month period for conciliation to the complainant and the accused in divorce cases.

The official said under the law, a person who had divorced his wife, could withdraw his/her decision within 90 days.

He said the three words of divorce were considered as a single divorce while three divorces were required over a period of three months for separation.

However, the official said most people did not contact the conciliation court for separation and were therefore unable to get the divorce certificate from the court that was required in different matters.

He said some women directly moved the civil courts to get divorced. However, the civil courts refer the divorce cases to the conciliation court for final decision.

According to the law, a woman married under the Islamic Law is entitled to obtain a decree for the dissolution of her marriage on different grounds.