LAHORE, Nov 2: The Lahore High Court on Thursday granted Louise Anne Fairely, the mother of 12-year old Scottish girl Misbah Iram Rana, time till Nov 17 to arrange for the expenses to travel to Pakistan and stay here to contest the case for the custody of her daughter.

Justice Mian Saqib Nisar allowed another two weeks to Louise to join the litigation, observing on the argument by her counsel Naheeda Mahboob Elahi that it was surprising that a society which claimed to be a champion of fundamental human rights had failed to provide its own citizen the meager amount to meet her daughter which was her legal right.

Her counsel had stated that visa was not a problem for her client, but she did not have the means to meet her travelling and lodging expenses in Pakistan as the local Community Legal Services of her town in Scotland had turned down her request.

The court remarked on Louise’s presence during the litigation because it was the matter of the custody of a minor who could not be handed over to anyone other than father or mother.

Dr Abdul Basit, the counsel for petitioner Tehmina Rana, the sister of Misbah, reiterated the offer of the petitioner’s former husband Sajjad Ahmad Rana that he was prepared to pay for her travel to Pakistan and stay in Lahore for one week. He stated that he was also prepared to pay her a daily allowance of Rs2,000 over the same period of time.

Louise’s counsel, however, stated that her client had already rejected the offer. The court also made an offer that it could help the mother come to Lahore.

On an allegation by her counsel, the court admonished Adam, the younger son of Sajjad Rana, for hurling life threats to his mother through an e-mail message. The counsel submitted that Adam, who was present in court along with his father and two sisters, had written a letter to his mother with threats over renunciation of Islam and returning to the fold of Christianity. She produced the e-mail message in court.

Adam replied that he did send the e-mail to his mother, but there was nothing threatening about that. The court had last month allowed Louise a three-week time to travel to Lahore to join the judicial proceedings for the custody of her daughter.