PHC moved against detention of husband by officials of Khyber Agency

PESHAWAR: A woman from Punjab on Monday moved the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the detention of her husband by the Khyber Agency authorities following their love marriage in Dubai against the wishes of her in-laws.

Afsheen, a resident of Rawalpindi, submitted a habeas corpus petition in the high court through her lawyer Malik Nasruminallah against the detention of her husband Irfanullah, a resident of Bara in Khyber Agency, by the political administration.

In the facts of the petition, Afsheen stated that she was doing a job in Dubai where she met Irfanullah. She said Irfanullah was also residing in Dubai running a shop selling different communication items such as mobile phones and iPods. She claimed they entered into a love marriage in Dubai against the wishes of her husband’s family.

The petitioner said they recently came to Pakistan for purchasing a house in the city and brought money and jewellery.

She claimed that one Amin Khan along with other relatives of her husband came to the petitioner’s house and forcibly took away the money and jewellery. She said that her detained husband Irfanullah registered a criminal case against his relatives after this offense.

Afsheen added that Amin Khan, who is the husband of the maternal aunt of the detainee, was in fact interested to give his daughter’s hand to Irfanullah as this was decided by both the families in their childhood.

It was stated in the petition that one Hidayatullah, a brother of the detainee, on the third day of Eidul Azha called Irfanullah to Bara, Khyber Agency, on the pretext of arranging amicable settlement of the matter with Amin Khan.

It said that when Irfanullah went to Bara, his hometown, the respondent’s relatives confined and pressured him to divorce the petitioner and marry Amin Khan’s daughter.

According to the petition, when Irfanullah refused to divorce the petitioner Afsheen, his brothers and other relatives handed him over to the political agent Khyber Agency, who kept him in illegal detention for the last five months.

In the grounds of the petition, it was stated that the political authorities had detained the petitioner’s husband in illegal custody on the request of his relatives, which was unlawful and against the fundamental right of a citizen guaranteed by the Constitution. It said the detainee Irfanullah has neither committed an offense nor is he involved in criminal activity and his only crime is contracting a love marriage against the wishes of his parents.