KARACHI: Couple told to resolve dispute over child's custody
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, May 5: The Sindh High Court asked an estranged couple to stay together in a hotel here for five days to resolve their differences and adjourned the hearing of the wife's petition for their child's custody till May 11.
Petitioner Saadia Qureshi has come from the US to sue her husband, Khurram Shahzad, and his parents for custody of their 18-month-old son, Hamza. She says that they were living happily in the US where she is permanently settled and Khurram was employed as an engineer.
They came to Karachi earlier this year for a brief stay, but developed differences while staying with the husband's parents. Khurram sent her back and promised to return to the US along with the child in due course. He failed to return and Saadia obtained a custody order from a US county court. She approached the Sindh High Court for restoration of her custody.
Respondent Khurram appeared along with the child before Justice Zawwar Hussain Jaffery on Wednesday in response to the court summons. His parents, Pervez and Rehana Qureshi, who expressed their inability to produce the child on the previous date, were also present as required by the court.
The couple and their counsel, Advocates Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, Naheeda Mehboob and M. Ilyas Khan, replied in the negative when the judge asked them whether they had decided to separate.
They replied in the affirmative when asked whether there was any possibility of a settlement. The judge asked the couple to meet in a separate room adjoining the courtroom without any interference by their counsel or parents.
The court was informed by Khwaja Naveed, the petitioner's counsel, that the differences were caused by Khurram's plan to return to Pakistan and settle down in Lahore while Saadia wanted to stay on in the US as agreed at the time of their marriage.
According to Saadia, Khurram had a job, a house and a car in the US. According to Khurram, he had a job and a house in Lahore and could live equally comfortably there.
The judge asked the couple to live together in a hotel for five days and try to settle their differences without any outside interference and adjourned further hearing till May 11. The provincial government was represented by AAG M. Ahmed Pirzada.
PPO CASE: A Sindh High Court division bench gave the Pakistan Post Office four weeks to refund to the petitioners the deposits misappropriated at the City Courts postal savings centre in accordance with the entries in their passbooks.
Several petitions have been filed by lawyers, including M. Ilyas Khan, Izhar Hussain Rizvi and the Sindh Bar Council, for repayment of their stuck-up amounts. According to the post office, over Rs 298 million were embezzled by a savings centre employee who continued to work after his retirement in 1994.
A case has been registered against the accused, Izhar Hussain Siddiqui, and other retired and serving postal employees and they are being prosecuted by the National Accountability Bureau.
A division bench, comprising Justices Shabbir Ahmed and Khilji Arif Hussain, had earlier directed the post office to deposit Rs 100 million of the admittedly misappropriated amount with the SHC nazir for reimbursement to the petitioners.
The post office expressed its inability to transfer the amount but undertook to repay the amounts verified by the high court individually within 15 days. It moved an application for review of the order on Wednesday.
Appearing for the post office, Advocate Nasir J. R. Shaikh, however, agreed to refund the petitioners' deposits. He sought time for finalization of the repayment process. The bench allowed the post office four weeks for payment of the principal amounts.
The profit would be paid after verification. The petition was filed when the scam came to light in mid-2003. Deputy Attorney-General Syed Zaki Mohammad represented the federal government.
BAIL PLEA: A division bench of High Court of Sindh, comprising Justice Wahid Bux Brohi and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery, on Wednesday dismissed bail application of a woman involved in 5,936 kg charas case, adds APP.
Ms Khalida sought bail through her counsel. She was booked by the Anti-Narcotic Force (ANF) Police, Clifton, after recovery of 85.6 kgs of charas at Chamra Chowrangi, Korangi Industrial Area, Karachi. During interrogation, she led the ANF sleuths to a house in Zaman Town, Gulshan-i-Hali, where 5,851 kgs of charas in a bar of one kilogram was recovered.
