Left to suffer: Two ‘abandoned’ kids handed over to mother

LHC orders police to locate their father until January 15

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday handed two children over to their mother Seema Jabin and directed police to inform it about the whereabouts of their father Adnan Zafar who had left them with his brother-in-law Arshad Mahmood allegedly before leaving for abroad a few days ago.

Police produced the mother of Umar Adnan, 6, and Amina Adnan, 5, in the court.

Adnan Zafar’s father, Zafar Iqbal, and Jabin’s brother showed willingness to look after the children.

Zafar Iqbal told the court he had taken the children to his home after a news about them was aired on TV channels. He said his son Adnan Zafar had divorced Jabin on January 1, 2014, eight years after their wedding.

Asked if she was accused of loose morals, he said it was not so. However, he said she would misbehave with her husband. He said he was unaware of why the couple had separated.

Zafar Iqbal said Adnan Zafar had not been at his home for three days. “He had a visa for Dubai but I do not know if he has gone there.”

Jabin said her husband had wanted to marry a woman, Sumera, of Pattoki. “I therefore asked him to divorce me.”

She said Adnan Zafar had verbally divorced her last year. She said she was seven-month pregnant at that time. She said she had a fatwa declaring that no divorce could take place during pregnancy. She said she had sent him a copy of the fatwa in April, 2014.

Jabin said she had been living in the same neighbourhood where Adnan Zafar lived when he had divorced her. She said her neighbours would feed her and her children. Three months later, she said, she had gone to his live with brother in Multan.

Jabin said her parents had died and her siblings were poor. She said Adnan Zafar and his father had taken the children with them after she had filed a suit in July 2014 seeking a maintenance allowance.

Former Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Asma Jahangir offered Jabin Rs10,000 but she refused the money. She said she wanted to live with her children and her husband.

Jabin said that five days ago, Arshad Mahmood, had called her and said the children were in his custody. She said Mahmood had brought the children to the court when she requested him to hand them over.

The judge remarked that he had never seen parents who abandoned their children like that. He asked a DSP present there about Adnan Zafar’s whereabouts. The DSP said the court had only asked him earlier about the whereabouts of Jabin.

The court ordered him then to inform it about Zafar’s whereabouts by the next hearing on January 15.

The judge then handed the children to their mother and directed their grandfather to pay her Rs6,000 a month in maintenance allowance.

Mahmood had filed the petition on Tuesday saying that Umar and Amina were in his custody as their parents had abandoned them. He said their father had handed them over to him on Sunday and left the country. He said their mother, too, had refused to keep them.

His counsel Irfan Mahmood Ranjha said the children were willing to go to their mother.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2015.