PHC orders citizenship for children of Pakistani women

PESHAWAR:

Peshawar High Court (PHC) has ruled in favor of 95 Pakistani women who married Afghan nationals and whose children have been denied citizenship.

The court has declared that a Pakistani woman can hold dual citizenship, and her children are entitled to dual citizenship until the age of 21. Due to the refugee cards being registered with NADRA, the Pakistani computerized national identity cards cannot be blocked. The PHC has issued a detailed verdict and directed the federal government to issue CNICs to the affected families after completing the legal requirements.

Justice Waqar Ahmed wrote the detailed verdict, which spans 62 pages. The court had heard 95 constitutional petitions on the matter, and the verdict was reserved.

The lawyer for the petitioners, Saifullah Mohib Kakakhel, argued that the 95 cases were similar, involving Pakistani mothers and Afghan fathers, resulting in their children being denied Pakistani citizenship.

Justice Syed Irshad Ali and Justice Waqar Ahmed heard the petitions, during which the petitioners claimed that due to difficulties in obtaining CNICs, most petitioners had obtained Afghan refugee cards for identification purposes and to facilitate travel to Europe or other countries.

Kakakhel argued that the main reason for obtaining Afghan refugee cards was that people from Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Palestine could easily obtain asylum.