Federal govt told to file comments on citizenship plea

SHC hearing case regarding citizenship for foreigners who marry Pakistani women

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed on Wednesday the deputy attorney-general to file comments on behalf of the federal government regarding the policy to give citizenship to foreign spouses of Pakistani women.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, directed the deputy attorney-general to submit a report from the relevant federal authorities by December 7.

The judges gave this direction to the federal law officer while hearing a petition against alleged denial of Pakistani citizenship to a Bangladeshi national who married a Pakistani woman.

The petition was filed by Shehnaz Kareem, who took the federal government to the court over the alleged denial of citizenship to her husband.



The petitioner told the court that she had married a Bangladeshi man who was legally living in Pakistan.

She said her husband was registered by the National Aliens Registration Authority (NARA), which had issued him a valid registration card in 2008.

Advocate Sara Malkani informed the judges that her client's husband later applied to the federal government for Pakistani citizenship, but his requests were not being entertained.

The court was pleaded to direct the authorities concerned to consider Kareem's application for award of Pakistani citizenship in accordance with the law.

Therefore, the bench issued a notice to the deputy attorney-general to file comments on behalf of the authorities concerned by December 7. In the meantime, the judges also directed the office to tag all such petitions together on the next date for a combined hearing.