PESHAWAR, Sept 19: A British national of Pakistani origin is locked in a legal battle with his former Indian wife over the custody of their two children.

It is learnt that a court in the UK has issued production order of the two children who have been residing with their father, Tanveer Ahmed, in district Haripur.

The order of the UK court was conveyed to the District and Sessions Judge, Haripur, in July by the private secretary of the Supreme Court's judge, Justice Mian Muhammad Ajmal, who was liaison judge between the judiciary of Pakistan and UK after signing of a protocol last year.

The protocol on Child and Family Laws Between Judiciary of UK and Pakistan was signed after a three-day conference held in London from January 15-17, 2003, which was attended by the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Sheikh Riaz, and six other judges of the superior courts.

The protocol was signed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, DBE, President of the Family Division of the High Court of England and Wales.

After receiving the letter from Ejaz Ahmad Goraya, the private secretary of Justice Mian Muhammad Ajmal, the Haripur district and sessions judge has now issued an order, directing Tanveer Ahmad to produce the two children on Sept 28.

The mother of the children, Pritibun Dipak Nandha, whose Islamic name was Yasmeen Akhter, has claimed that Mr Ahmad had removed the two children from UK in an illegal manner without the permission of the court concerned.

The two children are Ansa Ahmed (daughter), born on Dec 7, 2000 and Kamil Ahmad (son), born on April 7, 2002. The woman claimed that the arrangement made by the court was that Ansa should be handed over to Mr Ahmed after school on Friday until Monday 9am; and Kamil Ahmad be handed over to him on the school gate on Friday and Monday morning.

She alleged that Mr Ahmed had violated the court order and abducted the two children to Pakistan. Mr Ahmed has filed written arguments before the district and sessions judge through his counsel Asadullah Malik and stated that the UK court could not exercise jurisdiction in Pakistan.

He stated that Ms Dipak Nandha belonged to India and as her husband had died, she was allowed to stay in UK on compassionate grounds. He held that as she was a helpless woman, he married her in 1997 after she embraced Islam.

He added that their marriage was registered on March 11, 2000, in Britain. Mr Ahmed said that out of their wedlock two children were born. He alleged that his wife got married with another person, Anjum Shahzad Malik, an illegal immigrant from Pakistan, without getting divorce from him, and they got their marriage registered on June 14, 2004.

In the marriage registration copy, he stated, his wife had shown herself as a widow and had deceived the registration authority. He held that when he came to know that she was about to take his children to India for good, he returned to Pakistan with his children after he received a message from Pakistan about his mother's illness.

Under the protocol, if a child is removed from the UK to Pakistan, or from Pakistan to the UK, without the consent of the parent with a custody/residence order from the court of the child's habitual/ordinary residence, the judge of the court of the country to which the child has been removed should not ordinarily exercise jurisdiction over the child, save in so far as it is necessary for the court to order the return of the child to the country of the child's habitual residence.

An interesting situation has now arisen, as the father claimed that the habitual residence of the children was Pakistan as they had visited this country many times and were happy here. However, their mother claimed that UK was their habitual residence.

The protocol states that the principles laid down in it shall apply without regard to the nationality, culture or religion of the parents or either parent and shall apply to children of mixed marriages.