PESHAWAR, July 19: An Indian woman whose grandparents are Pakistani nationals is awaiting a verdict by the Peshawar High Court on her application for grant of Pakistani citizenship.
While the case of another Indian woman, Dr Hafsa Aman, has hit headlines, the story of Ms Aqila Durrani has not so far attracted the attention of the media. Ms Durrani was married to Imtiaz Khan of Mardan on August 15, 2003. Her father, Abdul Qudoos, belonged to Babozai Katlang, district Mardan.
The interior division, Islamabad, twice rejected her application (on Feb 25 and April 29) seeking Pakistani citizenship. A writ petition was jointly filed by Ms Aqila Durrani and her husband Imtiaz Khan in the Peshawar High Court.
The high court has restrained the government from deporting Ms Durrani and sought comments from the interior division. The father of Ms Durrani, Abdul Qudoos Durrani, was born in village Babozai Katlang prior to the creation of Pakistan and had studied at Government High School, Katlang, up to 9th grade.
Mr Qudoos left for Bombay in 1961 in search of a job while his close relatives stayed behind in district Mardan. Ms Durrani claims that her paternal-aunt, Zubaida Bibi, had arranged her engagement with Imtiaz, a resident of Kaskoorona (Mardan), on June 8, 1999.
Being legally wedded to Mr Khan, she applied for Pakistani citizenship. She said that on Feb 25, a section officer of the interior division, Jawed Habib, rejected her application.
Ms Durrani said that she again applied for citizenship through the NWFP chief minister with the help of woman MPA Naeema Kishwar, but that plea was also turned down. The stay permit issued to the petitioner by the government was valid up to June 27.
The woman's counsel, Amjid Ali, told Dawn that the Citizenship Act, 1951, was very much clear on this point and the section officer concerned had overstepped his authority while rejecting her application.
"Under section 10 of the Citizenship Act, a foreigner woman married to a Pakistani man is entitled to be granted citizenship certificate," Mr Ali added. He said that the officer had not assigned any reason for rejecting the applications. Moreover, he added, the grandparents as well as other relatives of Ms Durrani were Pakistani nationals.
