August 09, 2008	Saturday	Sha’aban 6, 1429

RAWALPINDI, Aug 8: Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench here on Friday handed over four British national children to their aunt and asked the British High Commission (BHC) to facilitate their return to their mother in the United Kingdom.

Justice Khalil Ahmed handed over Sebah Ahmed, 17; Qaim Rehman, 15; Haseeb Rehman, 10, and nine-year-old Sikandar Rehman to their maternal aunt, Sakina Latif, who was appointed the children’s guardian by the petitioner, Hasra Nazeer. The judge also asked the BHC to facilitate the return of the children to their mother.

The petitioner ad filed a habeas corpus application in the court to recover her children from her husband, Ishtiaq, who had allegedly kept them in illegal custody and was not handing them over to their mother.

According to Naheeda Mehboob Elahi, the attorney of the petitioner, the family came to Pakistan in June 2002 after their eldest child informed her school authorities that her father had beaten up her mother. As a result the social school service personnel started visiting their house to determine whether the children were at risk or not.

When they came to Jhelum, their native city, Ishtiaq, also a British national, refused to go back to England and told his wife that if she wanted to return, she could do so without the children. Hasra went back to England in 2002 and tried to persuade her husband to return as well.

Ms Elahi said Hasra Nazeer moved a British family court for the custody of her children and obtained a declaration stating that the children were habitual residents of United Kingdom and would be under the guardianship of the court.

The petitioner also moved a family court in Jhelum for the custody of the children but the case was disposed of due to non-prosecution as Ishtiaq kept on changing his residences along with the children to evade the court jurisdiction. The respondent, Ishtiaq, on the other hand had maintained that the habeas petition was not maintainable as the children had willingly been living with him since 2002 and did not want to return to the UK. The children could not be called habitual residents of the UK as they were in Pakistan for the last six years.

He also said being a Muslim he did not want his children to be brought up in an atmosphere which was not conducive for their upbringing, and the younger children had even told the LHC judge that they wanted to live with their father.

A court bailiff on July 25, 2008 recovered the children from the custody of their father in Jhelum and handed over the two older children to the mother and the younger to the father on interim bail. However on Friday, the court allowed them to return to their mother.