PESHAWAR, Sep 8: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday restrained the federal and provincial governments from taking any action against Indian woman Afsina because she had applied for Pakistani citizenship after getting married to her Pakistani cousin. A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Ijaz Afzal also put on notice the federal interior ministry and the NWFP government in the matter. The court ordered that till next hearing no action should be taken against the petitioner woman.

The woman, hailing from Ahmadabad (India), had contracted nikkah with her cousin Arshid Mahmood in 1997. Her rukhsathi took place on May 14, 2005.

She visited Pakistan on a visit visa which expired on Aug 19. She applied for Pakistani citizenship a few days ago and while here application is still pending a final decision, she has requested the court to restrain the government from taking any action against her till finalization of her application.

Advocate Siddique Haider Qureshi appeared for the petitioner and argued that she was legally entitled to get Pakistani citizenship under the Citizenship Act.

He requested the court to issue interim injunctions against respondents federal secretaries of foreign affairs and interior and provincial home secretary.

Last year another two Indian women, Dr Hafsa Amna and Aqila Durrani, had filed writ petitions, seeking Pakistani citizenship. They had also married Pakistani nationals.

During pendency of their petitions they were granted citizenship by the federal interior ministry and their petitions had become infructuous.