Father takes son to Kabul, mother files plea for custody

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday issued notices to the foreign office secretary, interior secretary and to a man who allegedly abducted his own son. The minor was taken to Afghanistan and the mother filed a report pleading for the recovery of her son from the ‘illegal’ custody of her spouse.
A single IHC bench of Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan heard the case filed by Shumaila Ahsan against her husband Ahsan Khan, a resident of Afghanistan, for kidnapping her one-and-a-half-year-old child. The petitioner, making her husband Ahsan Khan, Foreign Office secretary and interior secretary respondents, prayed before the court for the recovery of her child.
Through her lawyer, Shumaila contended before the court that she married Ahsan in 2005 in a village of district Abbottabad and gave birth to their child in 2010. The child has been named Kabir Khan. The petitioner maintained that her husband’s attitude towards her in their marital life had gone from bad to worse. She further submitted before the court that Ahsan was a drinker and used to beat her severely. She said that on August 15, Ahsan fraudulently took the minor, who was ill, from her with the pretext of treatment and later telephoned her saying he and the minor were in Kabul, Afghanistan.
The petitioner told the court that her husband had threatened her with dire consequences if she were to try to go Kabul to bring back the child. The counsel for plaintiff Kanz-us-Saadat prayed before the court for the recovery of Kabir Khan. She pleaded that the welfare, betterment and survival of the minor lies with his real mother, rather than the father. “The detainee is minor and a suckling baby and needs the love, affection and lap of his real mother,” the counsel argued.
She requested the IHC to direct the foreign office secretary and interior secretary to use diplomatic channels and other sources to recover the child. After hearing arguments, the court issued notices to foreign office secretary, Interior secretary and Ahsan Khan and adjourned the proceedings for an indefinite period.