PESHAWAR, July 22: A woman has moved the Peshawar High Court seeking custody of her US nationality holder minor daughter from her former husband, stating that the girl was fraudulently transported to Pakistan from the US.

The woman, Ms Shaista Manzoor Tamana, has filed a habeas corpus petition before the high court alleging that her daughter, Mayra Iman, aged about two-and-a-half years, was in illegal confinement. The petitioner has also prayed the court to put the names of her mother-in-law, husband and sister-in-law on the Exit Control List as her mother-in-law was having Canadian nationality and she might take away the child.

The petitioner claimed that she had moved to USA along with her parents around 16 years ago, but unlike her parents she was not an American nationality holder. She claimed that her former husband, Rehan Yousaf of Peshawar, had married her on April 26, 2003, presuming that she was an American nationality holder.

In the petition, filed through advocate Nasrun Minallah, the petitioner stated that when her husband came to know that she was not having American nationality he forced them that his paper-marriage should be arranged with her mother, Naseem Manzoor. She stated that on May 5, 2006, he entered into a paper-marriage with her mother. The petitioner stated that on Oct 15, 2005, she gave birth to a female child in New York and she was named Mayra Iman.

The petitioner stated that in the meantime she was arrested in connection with ticketing business of her parents on charges of committing fraud and was released on parole in 2005. She claimed that in 2006 she was again arrested on same charges and was convicted. However, she was released in Aug 2007 and was deported to Pakistan on March 29, 2008.

The woman claimed that according to rules her husband and mother had to appear before the concerned officials on June 20, 2008, five years after their paper-marriage, so that he could be awarded nationality. However, as her mother had come to Pakistan, therefore, she could not turn up for that meeting.

She claimed that she had granted custody of her daughter to her sister when she was in prison. Later on, she added that she granted temporary custody of the child to her husband but he fraudulently removed the child to Pakistan. She added that when she returned to Pakistan her husband was making excuses as he did not want to settle here. She added that when her husband realised that her mother would not appear with him for the interview regarding his citizenship, he divorced the petitioner on June 19.