IHC to hear estranged Pakistani-Indian couple’s petitions together

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday decided to hear the petition filed by Uzma, an Indian national who went missing from the Indian High Commission earlier this month, along with that filed by her Pakistani husband, Tahir Ali.

Speaking to media after Monday’s hearing, the lawyer representing Ali said his client rejects all allegations levelled against him by Uzma. He added that his client had requested the court to allow him to meet his wife.

However, Malik Shahnawaz, the attorney representing Uzma before the IHC, told reporters that the question of Ali meeting his client does not arise, since the marriage contract between the two was signed by his client at gun-point and therefore, is not accepted to be legitimate.

Last week, Uzma appeared before a lower court and stated that she was forced to marry her Pakistani husband at gunpoint and was subjected to abuse by him.

The twenty-year-old Indian national met Ali, a resident of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while the latter was working as a taxi driver in Malaysia eight months ago. The two were married in early May. A few days after their marriage, they had approached the Indian High Commission — reportedly to secure Indian visas — after which Uzma had ‘gone missing’ allegedly from the commission’s premises.

Source: Dawn