The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday ordered the removal of the names of children — brought to Pakistan by their father — from the Exit Control List (ECL) after handing over their custody to their Polish mothers a day before.

IHC Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani resumed hearing the petitions filed by the Polish women, Isa Nowa, and Johana Mohammad, seeking custody of their children from their Pakistani father Saleem Mohammad.

At the previous hearing, the court had handed over the children's custody to their mothers and directed their father to surrender the passports of the minors to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

Saleem Muhammad had told the court that he brought the children to Pakistan in August 2021 to meet his family with the consent of their mothers, adding that his relations with his former wives became strained because they used to take the children to church.

He had said he got Polish nationality in 2012 and told the court that he could rescind the foreign nationality for the sake of his children.

The hearing

During the hearing on Wednesday, seven-year-old Ahmed and his half-sister Sadia were presented in the court. They were accompanied by their mothers and Polish embassy officials.

At the outset of the hearing, the court asked the FIA if it had taken the children's passports in their custody to which they gave an affirmative response.

The mother's lawyer requested the court to interview the children inside the judge's chamber.

He said that the children had been "illegally deprived of their mothers' affection for 14 months" and that the mothers had contacted all possible official channels in Poland and in Pakistan.

Referring to a previous verdict from 2010, he argued that children in such cases were returned to their mothers if they were underaged.

Meanwhile, Additional Attorney General Barrister Munawar Iqbal Duggal informed the court about the legalities related to the case.

At one point during the hearing, Justice Kayani called the children to the rostrum and after holding a brief conversation with them, took them to his chamber where he interviewed them.

When the hearing resumed upon the children's return, the court asked the mothers if they had accepted Islam before marrying the father.

At that, their lawyer replied that one of the women had married the father in 2005 but had not accepted Islam while the other woman had neither legally married the father nor had accepted Islam.

Upon hearing this, the court asked if the children had been attending school back in Poland to which one of the mothers replied that they were.

The court asked the same regarding their education status in Pakistan to which the father's lawyer replied that they were studying in a school in Rawalpindi.

When the father's lawyer asserted that the court can take the opinion of the child if they are aged seven and above, Barrister Duggal responded that the court would announce the verdict according to the law.

Responding to the question "how can the religion of a six-year-old be changed", he said that the children can choose their religion once they reach the age of 18.

For his part, the father said that he was willing to bear the expenses of the mothers' visit to Pakistan whenever they wanted to meet the children.

After hearing the arguments, the court handed over the custody of both children to their mothers and ordered the authorities to take their names out of the ECL.

The court also directed the mothers to ensure that the children meet their father in Pakistan.