Family rows: ‘I am not her husband’

Petitioner says ex-wife still telling people they are married.

LAHORE:

A family judge on Thursday decreed in favour of the petitioner directing the respondent not to call the petitioner her husband as he had officially divorced her.

The petition was filed by Azfar Shafi in Farzana Faman’s court seeking a direction to his former wife, Zara Shahid, to stop calling him her husband. He told the court that he had married Shahid in 2006. However, the relationship between them deteriorated, and he divorced her in December 2008. He said her family asked for reconciliation, but it failed. After the process of law by the Arbitration Council and the authority, the divorce certificate was issued in April 2011.

He said that despite the divorce, she had been calling him her husband, which was unlawful and without any justification. He also alleged that she was blackmailing him to extort money. The judge issued several notices to the respondent to appear before the court, but no one appeared on her behalf. However, after waiting for the respondent for three months, the judge passed ex-parte order in favour of the petitioner.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 23^rd, 2011.