PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday sought reports from police and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) over a petition filed by a Kyrgyz woman, claiming that law enforcement agencies failed to recover her minor son from custody of her former Pakistani husband despite orders of the court.

The bench of Justice Mussarat Hilali and Justice Sahibzada Asadullah also issued notices to federal interior ministry, KP home secretary, KP inspector general of police, FIA director general and Nadra chairman, asking them to respond to a contempt of court petition filed by the woman, Aiylehieva Aijan, who stated that several orders were issued by the court in her earlier writ petition but the respondents had not been implementing the orders.

She requests the court to order these respondents to recover her 10-year-old son.

PHC issues notices to interior ministry, KP home secretary, IGP and Nadra chairman

In 2016, the then DPO Swabi had told the high court that they suspected that the minor boy, Mohammad Yousaf, was taken to Afghanistan by his father, Mohammad Zeb Khan, a resident of Swabi, who had married the petitioner in Kyrgyzstan in 2005.

The petitioner is also having two other children from her former husband named Zaineb Zeb Khan and Ahmed Zeb Khan, who have been residing in Kyrgyzstan since June 21, 2012.

Advocate Ajmal Raza Bhatti appeared for the petitioner and contended that after their marriage the couple had shifted to Pakistan in 2006, where the behaviour of the respondent (Mohammad Zeb) changed with the petitioner and he started treating her harshly.

He stated that the petitioner was asked to serve at a basic health unit (BHU) as doctor and also at a private hospital and she had to earn for the 17-member family of her former husband. He said that the petitioner was having three children from the wedlock and her second son Mohammad Yousaf was born in Bishkek in 2009.

The counsel said that after his birth, his client returned to Pakistan but the behaviour of her husband and his family made her life miserable. Subsequently, he said, the petitioner again moved to Kyrgyzstan in 2012, but was told by Mohammad Zeb that the younger son would be sent from Pakistan later on.

He claimed that the minor boy was never sent to Kyrgyzstan by his father following which the petitioner came to Pakistan and filed a petition for his recovery. He added that following orders of high court in 2015 and 2016, police said that the boy could not be traced as apparently he was shifted to Afghanistan by his father, who could also not be traced.

The counsel said that finally the court ordered the ministry of interior, foreign affairs and FIA to help in tracing Mohammad Zeb. He added that after failure of respondents to trace Mohammad Zeb, the court disposed of the petition and ordered Nadra authorities to block his national identity card and the ministry of interior to place him on Exit Control List.

He said that over three years had passed since then but those respondents including police and FIA had failed in tracing the minor boy.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2019