Rawalpindi:
A case presented by a Chinese woman who seeks the divorce (Khula) of her Pakistani husband has taken a new turn after the contradictory decisions of the Superior Court and a lower court, asking questions about whether Khula can legally obtain in Pakistan, who will obtain the custody of her 12 -year -old daughter, and if the woman will be granted a visa to remain in the country until the matter is resolved.
According to judicial documents, the Chinese national Mir Guli married Shah Zeb, a Charsadda merchant, in China in 2011. A year later, he gave birth to a daughter, Sofia. Mir Guli states that her husband, without informing her, recorded Sofia’s history with Nadra in Pakistan, effectively revoking her Chinese nationality, but did not register Mir Guli as her wife. Encouraged by her husband’s behavior, she asked Khula in a Pakistani family court.
His lawyer, the lawyer of the Supreme Court, Saeed Yousaf Khan, said that the case took an important turn when the legal team of Shah Zeb argued before the Family Court that since the marriage took place in China and registered there, the Pakistani courts lacked jurisdiction to decide on the matter.
However, Judge Sajid Mehmood Sethi of the Rawalpindi Bank of the Superior Court of Lahore ruled that the case could be heard and decided in Pakistan where the wife resides. The judge ordered the lower court to listen to the matter daily, taking into account the women’s visa status and instructed the Visa section of the Ministry of Interior to review his case.
In spite of this, the Judge of the Taimoor AFzal Family Court dismissed Mir Guli’s Supplica of Khula for jurisdictional reasons the same day that the Superior Court declared the admissible case. Now an appeal has been presented to the session judge, along with a separate request for custody of Sofia, 12, who currently lives with his father.
