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| Sunday, 22 August 2004 |
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Pakistani court allows Indian bride to stay PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Saturday (AFP) A court has allowed an Indian woman married to a Pakistani to stay in the country until a decision on the government's refusal to grant her citizenship, her lawyer said Friday. The case highlights the continuing strain between the South Asian rivals, despite an improvement in relations since last year as a result of measures such as encouraging contact between people from the two countries. Hifsa, a 25-year-old doctor from the Indian state of Kerala, married Pakistani doctor Aman Khan in Ukraine last year, where they were studying medicine, and then moved to Pakistan early this year. Hifsa, who converted to Islam before the marriage, applied for Pakistani citizenship in June but the interior ministry turned her down citing security concerns and ordered her to leave the country following the expiry of her visa. "The Peshawar High Court has allowed Hifsa to stay in Pakistan till further orders and has asked the government to explain the reasons behind rejection of her application," her lawyer, Osman Tarlandi, told AFP. Hifsa, whose name before converting to Islam was Divya Dayanandan, gave birth to a baby girl named Mohammad Shahan early this month. |
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