PESHAWAR, June 23: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday stayed the deportation of an Indian lady doctor who had converted to Islam and married a Pakistani man. A two-member bench comprising Justice Nasirul Mulk and Justice Ijazul Hassan put on notice the interior division, Islamabad, and fixed July 8 for the next hearing.

The bench restrained the concerned police department from arresting the woman, Ms Hafsa Aman, and her husband, and from deporting her to India. Advocate Usman Khan Tarlandi, representing the woman's husband Aman Khan, stated that the interior division had given her notice to leave the country by June 30, and he asked the court to stay the deportation order till the final disposal of the case.

The woman had converted to Islam and entered into marriage with the petitioner on July 16, 2003. He added that under the Citizenship Act a woman was entitled to Pakistani citizenship if her husband was a Pakistani.

The woman's pregnancy is in an advance stage and she is not in a position to leave the country. The police in Mardan has been harassing her and pressurising the family that she should leave Pakistan, her counsel claimed.