PESHAWAR, June 20: An Indian woman who embraced Islam and married a Pakistani man is fighting a legal battle for Pakistani citizenship. Ms Hafsa Aman is married to Aman Khan of district Mardan, but the interior division in Islamabad is reluctant to grant her Pakistani citizenship.

The interior division has directed her to leave Pakistan within the validity of her visa. She is in an advanced stage of her pregnancy and not in a position to leave the country.

However, police have been harassing her family and pressurising them to leave Pakistan, her counsel claimed. Her previous name was Divya Dayanan Dan. The couple fell in love when they were studying in Ukraine. Mr Aman Khan returned to Pakistan in 1998 without completing his studies.

After completion of her MD degree in Ukraine, Ms Hafsa visited Pakistan last year and embraced Islam at the hands of Hafiz Ghulam Rasul in Karachi. "Under section 10(2) of the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951, a woman married to a citizen of Pakistan should be registered as a citizen of Pakistan, whether or not she had completed 21 years of age," said her counsel, Muhammad Usman Khan Tarlandi.

He said that it was a clear case of discrimination with her. He added that she had given an affidavit that she was surrendering her Indian nationality and wanted to live with her husband for the rest of her life, but the authorities were not accepting her plea.

Her husband Aman Khan has filed a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court, which would be taken up for preliminary hearing on June 23. He has requested the court to grant interim relief to them and direct the authorities concerned not to pressure them till final disposal of her case.

The petitioner held that his wife was initially permitted to remain in Pakistan till August 14, 2003, through a permit issued on July 18, 2003, under the Foreigners Order, 1951.

The permit was issued by the foreigners registration officer/superintendent of police, Mardan. The permit was extended thrice and finally it was valid up to March 7. The woman had applied for grant of Pakistani citizenship through an application on August 26, 2003, which was turned down by the interior division in February, 2004.

The petitioner preferred an application to the NWFP chief minister, which was recommended to the interior division for re-consideration, but that was also refused on April 29. The petitioner has requested the high court to declare the impugned order of the interior division as illegal and unconstitutional.