Lahore High Court Forms Larger Bench to Hear Case on Afghan Man’s Citizenship after Marrying Pakistani Woman

Lahore – The Lahore High Court has formed a larger bench to deliberate on the matter of granting citizenship to an Afghan man who married a Pakistani woman. The bench will be headed by Chief Justice Aalia Neelum and will include Justices Chaudhry Iqbal, Farooq Haider, Ali Bajwa, Sultan Tanveer, and Khalid Ishtaq. The larger bench has been constituted following a recommendation by Justice Farooq Haider, and it is scheduled to hear the case on May 6.
The petitioner, Ms. Musarrat Jabeen, argues that under the Pakistani Citizenship Act of 1951, a Pakistani man who marries a foreign woman is granted citizenship. However, when a Pakistani woman marries a foreign man, the latter is not granted citizenship, which, the petitioner contends, is a violation of the constitution and the law.
Ms. Jabeen’s lawyer, Toesif Ahmad Bajwa, informed the court that the petitioner had married an Afghan man named Naseem in 2012. The case has sparked debate over the rights of women in relation to citizenship laws and whether they should have equal standing in such matters as men.