PESHAWAR, Jan 20: The Peshawar High Court on Friday directed the Karak district police and other law-enforcement agencies not to take any action against an Arab woman seeking Pakistani citizenship. A two-member bench comprising Justice Qaim Jan Khan and Justice Ijaz Afzal issued the directives on a writ petition jointly filed by the Arab woman, Sheikha Mohammad Hamoud Al Hamadi, and her husband, Juma Raz Khan.

The couple had requested the court to issue directives to the interior ministry to grant Pakistani citizenship to the woman.

The deputy attorney-general for Pakistan, Salahuddin Khan, appeared for the federal government and stated that she had applied for citizenship and her application was under process. He said that after clearance from security agencies a decision would be taken on the application.

He said the government had already extended the stay permit of the petitioner.

Advocate Zaffar Abbas Zaidi appeared for the petitioners and contended that the government was delaying the matter and therefore the couple was disturbed.

He said that his client had filed the application for citizenship on April 13, 2005, and again filed an application with all relevant documents on May 22. The woman feared that if she was deported to United Arab Emirates, she would be killed by her family members as she had married Juma Raz on her own free will.

Ms Sheikha Hamadi had reached Pakistan on April 7, 2005, and the same day she married Juma Raz Khan in Karak, a southern district of NWFP. Mr Khan used to work in the UAE and was deported to Pakistan after he developed differences with the Hamadi family.

Earlier, Juma Raz and his two brothers were charged in an FIR at Karak police station and were accused of keeping the woman in illegal confinement. However, the woman denied the charges and the FIR was quashed by the high court last year.