Veena Malik’s ex-husband misled court: FO

Foreign Office accuses Khattak of hiding facts in children’s custody case

ISLAMABAD:

The Foreign Office on Tuesday submitted its comments on the petition of Veena Malik's ex-husband Asad Khattak regarding the shifting of their children to Pakistan from Dubai and prayed the court to dismiss the case.

The Foreign Office adopted the stance in its reply that Asad Khattak had hidden facts in the case and attached controversial material with his petition.

It further said that Veena Malik had submitted a copy of the National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) of her children to Pakistan High Commission in Dubai. She also provided a copy of the certificate regarding the guardianship of children issued by the Rawalpindi court, it added.

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The reply further said that the passports were issued to the children under the Pakistani laws, adding that children were issued emergency travel documents after submission of passports.

Chief Justice Athar Minallah, hearing the case, directed the relevant officials to share the copy of the Foreign Office's comments to petitioner Asad Khattak and adjourned the hearing of the case till April 20. Khattak had alleged in his plea that the Pakistan Consulate in Dubai had misused its power in assisting the actress to move children to Pakistan.

According to Khattak, a case regarding the custody of his children was pending before a court in Dubai which court had ordered in April 2018 that the children could not be taken out of the country. However, Malik managed to shift the children to Pakistan with the help of the Pakistan Consulate in Dubai, he added.

In his petition filed with the IHC, Khattak sought legal action against the consulate's staff. The couple had parted ways in 2017 and they have two sons aged five and six years.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2021.