Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday granted two Polish women custody of their children from their ex-husband from Pakistan.
The IHC’s Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani announced the verdict while hearing a petition filed by two Polish women who were married to a Pakistani businessman Saleem Muhammad – a resident of Sialkot.
The high court had a day earlier (Tuesday) allowed the petitioners, Isa Nowa, and Johana Mohammad to meet their young ones, a boy and a girl, for a day and adjourned the hearing for Wednesday.
The court had also directed the man to surrender the passports of the minors to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
On Wednesday, as the court resumed hearing, the judge asked the FIA official if the children’s passports were in FIA possession, to which he replied in the affirmative.
On this the court directed the agency to hand their passports to the petitioners and remove their names from the Exit Control List (ECL).
According to Pakistan’s family laws, minor children cannot be handed to their father, the judge observed.
The man’s lawyer argued that his client is a Muslim and he had two children from his two Christian ex-wives.
The children’s father further apprised the IHC that he brought the children to Pakistan with the consent of their mothers, adding that his relationship with his ex-wives had deteriorated due to religious beliefs as his wives used to take his children to church.
The court asked the father why he shouldn’t have taken the kids to Poland to nurture his children as he had Polish citizenship.
The father said it is very difficult for him to raise his children under Islam there as the nearest mosque was some 300 kilometres away from his house.
The court observed since he owned a large business in Poland, he could construct a mosque near his home.
On this the women’s counsel submitted it was agreed between them that they (mothers) would take the kids to churches and he to mosques and it would be left to the children themselves to decide which religion they wanted to adopt when they grew up.
While questioning Saleem about his dual nationality, the court observed that it was a crime to which he said he was ready to cancel his 10-year-old Polish citizenship for his kids but he won’t take his children to Poland. Upon being asked by the court, both women refused to meet their ex-husband.
After listening to the arguments, the court ordered to hand over the kids to their Polish mothers.
On Tuesday, the father had told the court that he had been living with his wife despite the divorce.
He said that he had brought his children to Pakistan in August 2021 with the legal permission of both mothers. He also produced the permission letter before the court.
However, the mothers’ lawyer said that the two children were Polish citizens and they were studying there, adding that their stay in Pakistan had exceeded the time permitted.
