LHC orders reunion of DIG’s children with mother

Petitioner says police are ignoring court orders and keeping her from meeting the kids

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ordered the counsel of a deputy inspector general of police (DIG) to arrange for a meeting of the police officer’s minor children with their Canadian mother on Friday (today).

It also directed the lawyer to produce the children before the court on Monday. During a hearing on Thursday, the counsel for DIG Ghulam Mehmood Dogar assured he would arrange for the meeting of the DIG’s children with their mother.



As the Punjab inspector general of police and the Lahore capital city police officer could not produce the two minors before the court on its order, the counsel for petitioner Mirjam Aberras Lahdeaho requested the registration of an FIR of keeping the children ‘under detention’. The petitioner is the mother of the policeman’s children.

The counsel said it was the only way to produce the children from the DIG. She said police were deliberately favouring the DIG and ignoring court orders.

Meanwhile, the counsel for Dogar gave his personal guarantee to arrange a meeting of the petitioner with her children on Friday (today) at 2:00pm at the Lahore High Court Bar Association building. To this, the court ordered the counsel to arrange for their meeting on Friday and produce the children on Monday, the next date of hearing.

The judge was hearing proceedings of a petition of Mirjam Aberras Lahdeaho, the wife of DIG Dogar. In her petition, Mirjam submitted she was a citizen of Finland and married Dogar 31 years ago. The petitioner said she had three children with him, namely elder daughter Zara, and two sons, 17-year-old Ghulam Qasim Dogar and 14-year-old Ghulam Jafar Dogar.

She said she spent 17 years in Pakistan in different cities with Dogar, according to his police postings. The petitioner added that some years ago, Dogar advised her to obtain Canadian nationality due to the uncertain situation in Pakistan. She said both the parents of Dogar, his brother and his sister were also Canadian nationals.

Through her counsel Hina Jilani, the petitioner submitted that Dogar asked her to send the children to Pakistan to spend the holidays with him last year. She sent all three children home and then the DIG allegedly refused to let them fly back to Canada. Mirjiam claimed the respondent initially used delaying tactics and flatly refused to send them back after a few months.



Advocate Hina said Zara, his daughter, threatened to involve the Canadian embassy if the father refused to let her return. After this, the lawyer pointed out that the policeman gave his daughter her passport and let her return to the mother. She added that the sons were minors and were unable to resist their detention.

Hina said both boys were not going to any school and the father was keeping them in his custody with the help of security guards. Hina said Dogar had himself declared as the guardian of the children by misleading the court.

She added that in his application for guardianship, the father claimed Mirjam was a Christian and the children might lose their way if not placed in his custody. The mother reiterated that she was still a Muslim and was deeply distressed by Dogar’s allegation.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2017.