IHC rejects Indian woman’s plea seeking Pakistan citizenship

Asks Samina Naz to first cede her Indian nationality

ISLAMABAD:

ISLAMABAD

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday ruled that Samina Naz cannot be granted Pakistan’s citizenship until she cedes her Indian nationality.

Naz had married an Indian citizen and surrendered her Pakistan nationality in 2004. She had requested the IHC to direct the interior ministry to grant her Pakistan citizenship again.

Justice Miangul Hassan issued the verdict stating that Naz’s application requesting the court to order the interior ministry to grant her Pakistan citizenship is being rejected.

The six-page court order noted that the immigration authorities’ directive for Naz to surrender her Indian citizenship was the right initiative.

It maintained that Naz married an Indian national and that she was issued documents for Indian citizenship after she had surrendered her Pakistan nationality.

Naz visited Pakistan in 2018 again on visit visa along with her children. She applied for Pakistan citizenship after her children were treated as foreign students in the country.

The verdict stated that Naz and her children could obtain Pakistan citizenship only as new citizens of the country.

According to the court order, the applicant told the court that she was born in Mianwali in 1970. In 1995, she married her Indian national cousin Dr Ata Muhammad Zulfiqar and had three children.

After the birth of her children, in 2004, she surrendered her Pakistan citizenship. In August 2019, her children passed the test admission test at the University of Health Sciences.

She said the university was charging fee from her children in the foreign students’ category, which was much higher.

She had applied for Pakistan citizenship along with her children but the interior ministry said that a decision on her application would be made after she surrenders her Indian citizenship along with all the documents.