KARACHI, April 19: The Sindh High Court asked the father of an 18-month-old boy on Monday to produce him on Wednesday on a petition filed by his mother. The petitioner mother, 19-year-old Saadia Qureshi, has come from the United States, where she is settled, to obtain custody of her child.

She and Khurram Shehzad Qureshi, both Americans of Pakistani origin, were married in Karachi in May 2001. Khurram worked as an engineer while Saadia was then a college student. The wedding was held in Karachi as Khurram's parents and other members of his family lived here.

According to the petition filed through Advocate Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, a child, Hamza, was born to the couple in Chicago late in 2002. Saadia and Khurram came to Karachi earlier in January to visit the latter's parents and it was during her stay with her in-laws that their relations soured.

Khurram sent her back to the US, where her family was settled, but kept the child with him and his family. Saadia got suspicious after waiting for over a month and approached a county court in the US.

The ninth judicial circuit court, Orange County, Florida, according to the petition, ordered on March 31 that "the respondent husband (Khurram) is hereby asked to return the physical custody of the child (Hamza) to the petitioner mother (Saadia)".

Armed with the county court order, Saadia came to Pakistan to initiate legal proceedings to secure the child's custody. The petition came up for hearing before Justice Zawwar Hussain Jaffery on Monday in the presence of the petitioner and her mother, who is accompanying her. The judge ordered Khurram to produce the child on April 21.