PESHAWAR, July 22: The interior division has extended the stay permit of Dr Hafsa Aman, an Indian woman seeking Pakistani citizenship, for two months.

Mrs Aman's husband Aman Khan told Dawn that the couple had received a letter from the interior division wherein they had been informed that the stay permit had been extended for two months.

The Peshawar High Court has stayed the deportation of Mrs Aman till the disposal of a writ petition challenging the government's order of rejecting her application for citizenship.

The high court is expected to hear the petition filed by Aman Khan nextweek.

The interior division turned down citizenship application of Mrs Aman in February and April.

Mr Khan expressed astonishment over the government's order and stated that after categorical refusal by the section officer concerned to grant nationality to his wife or allow her to stay in Pakistan, he had not applied for extension in her stay permit. He said he visited the interior division on March 4 as the permit was to expire on March 7.

"The high court has already granted me interim relief and I no longer need this permission," he said.

The extension order has been issued by a section officer of the interior division, Javed Habib.

Mr Khan said the president should take notice of the attitude of the officials. He said his wife was entitled to citizenship under the Citizenship Act, 1951.

Mrs Aman, whose previous name was Divya Dayanandan, had reached Karachilast year, where she converted to Islam and married Aman Khan on July 16, 2003. Both of them were studying medicine in Ukraine.

Mr Khan said his studies had suffered and he had to bear huge expenses to continue the legal battle. He said the state minister concerned in Kerala had visited the residence of his mother-in-law and assured her of his support but the government here was not giving him his rights.