‘PM Sharif, Bajwa never discussed Jindal meeting’

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa never discussed Indian businessman Sajjan Jindal’s recent visit to Pakistan, a minister said.

Minister of state for information Marriyum Aurangzeb said there was “no mention of Sajjan Jindal” in meeting between the Prime Minister and the army chief. She said: “Jindal is a friend of the Prime Minister and met him in his personal capacity. The news item that made rounds is incorrect.”

Meanwhile, an Indian woman, who says she was forcibly married to a Pakistani national, moved the Islamabad high court seeking her repatriation.

Dr Uzma prayed to the court to issue her repatriation orders after providing her with duplicate immigration documents on humanitarian grounds as her five-year-old daughter, a Thalassemia patient, was immensely suffering due to the disorder.

An unusual incident also occurred during the hearing of the petition moved by Uzma, when Indian first secretary Piyush Singh was caught taking pictures of Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, who was conducting the proceeding, through his mobile phone.

Security officials inside the courtroom brought this activity to the notice of the judge who ordered confiscation of Mr Singh’s mobile phone.

Justice Kayani reprimanded the Indian diplomat and said that it was a serious violation of the court decorum. Later, the judge directed Mr Singh to submit a written apology and he obliged. The judge also warned the diplomat not to repeat the act again.

Mr Singh in his apology wrote: “I fully apologise for the attempt of using mobile in court by mistake. It is requested that I may kindly be pardoned for this”.

In her petition, the Indian woman requested the court to direct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue her duplicate immigration sheets, grant her exemption from police reporting in Islamabad and she be provided with security while she traveled from Islamabad to Wagha border. She sought security for herself.

After hearing her plea, the IHC bench directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to pass an order on the application of Dr Uzma, and also issued notices to the ministry seeking its reply. The bench deferred the hearing till May 22.

Earlier, upon the insistence of the petitioner’s counsel that the court may pass an order, the IHC bench said that it could not pass any order without hearing the other side.

Dr Uzma in her petition has cited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its secretary and Tahir Ali as respondents.

The petitioner said she was an Indian citizen - currently living in Indian High Commission in Islamabad. She was issued a 30-day Pakistani visa on April 21, 2017, by Pakistan’s High Commission in Delhi and she entered Pakistan on May 1 through Wagha border.

Uzma said that she had come to Pakistan to visit Tahir Ali, a resident of Buner. She had developed an acquaintance with Tahir Ali in Malaysia. On her arrival in Pakistan, Tahir Ali received her at Wagha border and, on way to Buner, the petitioner was sternly and mercilessly deadened and sedated through drowning sleeping pills and was sexually assaulted by Tahir Ali in connivance with his friends. Dr Uzma alleged that she was compelled to marry Tahir Ali who was already married with four children.

She alleged that Tahir Ali intimidated, blackmailed, harassed and humiliated her in order to marry her dishonestly, criminally and prejudicially. She alleged that Tahir Ali obtained her signatures on Nikahnama (marriage contract) at gunpoint and without her free will and consent.

Before approaching the Indian High Commission, the petitioner convinced Tahir Ali that she wanted to collect some money and belongings from the high commission.

After she arrived at the Indian High Commission, she managed to escape inside and intimated the officials there about the incident.

Dr Uzma alleged that when she escaped, Tahir Ali sped off with her travel documents. The petitioner then told the Indian High Commission officials that her life was in danger and if she was not provided with asylum she may commit suicide.

She told the court that on May 8, the petitioner also filed a criminal complaint before a judicial magistrate in Islamabad where this entire episode was narrated and she expressed her wish to go back to India.

The Indian High Commission on May 5 requested Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate the petitioner and issue her duplicate immigration sheets expeditiously which was the pre-requisite for her travelling back to India as she has to present these documents at the Wagha border immigration office in Lahore.

Dr Uzma said she, from her previous marriage in India, had a daughter namely ‘Falak’ who is five years old and a patient of Thalassemia who needed blood transfusion recurrently and was seriously suffering. “Keeping the mother away from her sick child is a violation of fundamental rights,” she said in the petition.