SHC restrains federal govt from repatriating foreign spouses of Pakistani women

The Sindh High Court on Tuesday restrained the federal government from repatriating Indian spouses of Pakistani women and ordered that the status of the spouses of Pakistani women be adjudged and processed.

The order came on petitions of Pakistani women Anila Abrar, Nilofar Somar, Zainab, Najma Bano and Sofia Imran, who had challenged repatriation of their Indian spouses and denial of giving the citizenship right to them.

They submitted that Section 10 (2) of the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951 offends rights of women citizens when it comes to transmitting citizenship rights to their foreign husbands.

They submitted that a foreign woman who has married a citizen of Pakistan shall be entitled to be registered as a citizen; however, in the same breath it does not grant an equivalent right to a foreign man marrying a woman citizen of Pakistan.

The petitioners counsel submitted that Section 10(2) discriminates against Pakistani women marrying foreign men vis-à-vis Pakistani men marrying foreign spouses. They submitted that men and women should have equal rights under the Constitution. It is their case that the term “women” and “she used in Section 10(2) must be read, wherever necessary, to include “man” and “he”.

A division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui after hearing the arguments observed that Section 10(2) of the Citizen Act gives a preferential treatment to the spouse of a Pakistani man vis-à-vis a Pakistani woman and thus infringes on constitutional guarantees.

The court observed that government of Pakistan has not given any reason for the classification of men and women to be kept in separate baskets, except a statement that the law was framed “in the larger national interests and security”.

The court observed that seemingly, there was no rational basis for assuming that a foreign wife of a Pakistani man would be more loyal to Pakistan than a foreign husband of a Pakistani woman.

The court observed that considering the statement of the federal law officer in relation to national interest, either bestowing citizenship in its entirety is wrong, or in case it is not wrong in the case of foreign wife, it is equally balanced in case of foreign husbands. It remarked that restricting the benefit of Section 10(2) to Pakistani men is a clear discrimination against Pakistani women.

The court allowed the petitions by reading in the missing words “man/he” in the subject provision i.e. Section 10(2) of the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951. It ordered that the status of the spouses of the petitioners be adjudged and processed accordingly and till such time the spouses of the petitioners may not be repatriated or dealt with contrary to the findings of the court.