September 12, 2007	Wednesday	Sha'aban 29, 1428

PESHAWAR, Sept 11: Taking suo motu notice of a case involving a Malaysian woman who seeks the custody of her child, Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court Justice Tariq Pervez Khan has directed the police to trace her Pakistani husband and their minor child.

A two-judge-bench comprising Justice Tariq Pervez Khan and Justice Qaim Jan Khan directed the Buner district police officer to recover the two and submit a report within 10 days.

The bench also directed an official of the Malaysian High Commission to collect information about the family of the woman, Siti Nazira.

The chief justice had converted into a petition the request of the woman, which was published in a Malaysian newspaper. The newspaper report alleged that Ms Nazira’s husband, Fazal Azeem, had been forcibly keeping their eight-month-old son with him.

The father of Fazal Azeem, Fazal Ahad, told the bench that his son had disappeared along with his grandson. The man levelled serious allegations against his daughter-in-law and her family in Kuala Lumpur, saying they were criminals.

Mr Ahad said he was the secretary of the union council of Totalai in Buner district. He said that a few years ago his son had gone to Malaysia where he married Ms Nazira.

He alleged that the woman did not belong to a good family and soon his son was asked to cough out $20,000. Mr Ahad claimed that when he went to Malaysia the woman and her family snatched the money from him.

Later on, Ms Nazira came to Pakistan with his son. “I told her that we have our own culture and tradition and she shall wear a burqa here, over which she got annoyed,” Mr Ahad said.

He alleged that Ms Nazira’s sisters were drug addicts and her brothers were involved in various crimes.

He added the petitioner’s mother was a Christian.

The court observed that it had no jurisdiction to deal with cases of Malaysia. Malaysia had its own legal system and if Mr Ahad had any complaints against any individual he could approach the law enforcing agencies there.

Mr Ahad complained that the police had raided his residence in search of his son and grandson, but they could not be found. He claimed that his son and grandson had mysteriously disappeared and their whereabouts were not known.