LAHORE, Oct 9: Justice Mian Saqib Nisar of the Lahore High Court has observed that the protocol agreed between the supreme courts of Pakistan and the UK for repatriation of abducted children cannot be held on a par with an agreement between two states and the international law does not equate such protocols with treaties signed by executives of two countries.
The court made the observation Naheeda Mahboob Elahi, the counsel for petitioner Louise Anne Fairley, the mother of UK national Misbah Iram Rana (Molly Campbell) was presenting her arguments on Monday. The petitioner has sought repatriation of the girl.
The counsel pleaded that the girl had to be returned to her country of residence in the light of the protocol agreed between the supreme courts of Pakistan and the UK.
The counsel claimed that 12-year-old Misbah had been abducted by her father Sajjad Ahmad Rana and sister Tehmina Ahmad Rana, despite a Scotland court’s orders restraining the girl from leaving the UK. She said that the girl was being kept in Lahore in illegal detention which was a criminal offence.
In his brief arguments, advocate Dr Abdul Basit for respondent Sajjad Ahmad Rana stated that the girl was happily living with her family in a Muslim state. He submitted that petitioner Louise had already forfeited her right to custody of the child because she had turned an apostate and the Islamic jurisprudence did not allow a Muslim child to live with any of his or her parents renouncing Islam. He said Islam also did not allow a Muslim to live in a society which did not distinguish between ‘haram’ and ‘halal’.
The court asked the petitioner’s counsel to explain why should the child be sent to the UK when a court was already proceeding with a case to determine her parentage and permanent custody. The court deferred, till Tuesday, further proceedings when Dr A. Basit would present his final arguments.
AFP adds: The 12-year-old Scottish girl surrendered her passports to the Lahore High Court after the court restricted her movement. She appeared before Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and handed over her Pakistani and British passports.
She had flown into Lahore with her father Sajjad Ahmed Rana in August.
LAHORE, Oct 9: Justice Mian Saqib Nisar of the Lahore High Court has observed that the protocol agreed between the supreme courts of Pakistan and the UK for repatriation of abducted children cannot be held on a par with an agreement between two states and the international law does not equate such protocols with treaties signed by executives of two countries.
