March 16, 2006	Thursday	Safar 15, 1427

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PESHAWAR, March 15: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday directed the federal authorities and the NWFP government not to take any action against the Indian wife of a Pakistani man till the interior ministry decided on her application for citizenship.

A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan and Justice Ijaz Afzal disposed of a writ petition filed by Indian national Afseena Bano and her spouse Arshad Mahmood, a resident of Kohat district, and instructed them to move the court again if the citizenship plea was rejected by the government.

The court directed the federal and provincial authorities, as well as the law enforcement officials, to withhold any action contemplated against the two until the interior ministry had reached any decision about the case.

It observed that “the cause of action for the petitioners had not arisen” as the government had not taken any decision on their application.

The petitioner’s counsel, Siddique Haider Qureshi, expressed the fear that police might take any action against the petitioners if the petition was not in the field. Mr Qureshi said that the woman was forced to file the petition as the government had been delaying the issuance of citizenship certificate to the woman and her visa permit had expired.

The woman, hailing from the Indian city of Ahmedabad married her Pakistani cousin in 1997, but her rukhsathi took place in May 2005. She came to Pakistan on a visit visa which expired on Aug 19 and was later renewed.

Mr Qureshi argued that the woman had applied for Pakistani citizenship on Aug 18, 2005, and her application had still been under process. He stated that the woman was entitled to Pakistani citizenship under the Citizenship Act as her husband was a Pakistani national.

The respondents in the petition were the Federation of Pakistan through foreign affairs secretary, the federal interior secretary and the provincial home secretary.

Deputy Attorney General Salahuddin Khan stated that the intelligence agencies had still not given clearance to the ministry for the acceptance of her application.