ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday decided to examine a law barring foreign males married to Pakistani women from being granted the country’s nationality, questioning whether the law was a violation of Article 25 of the Constitution and discriminated on the basis of an individual’s gender.
A three-judge Supreme Court (SC) bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, heard the case.
Pakistani law allows the grant of citizenship to a national’s foreign wife, however, it prohibits a foreign national husband of a Pakistani woman to attain citizenship of the country.
Taking up the Interior Ministry’s plea against a Lahore High Court (LHC) order, wherein the federal government was directed to grant citizenship to an Indian man, Asghar Haider, who married a Pakistani girl, Rukhsana, in 2004, the bench questioned whether the law is not in violation of Article 25 of the Constitution, which states that all citizens are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection of the law and that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex.
During the hearing, the SC also questioned LHC’s reliance on the Federal Shariat Court order which has already been suspended. The court further issued a notice to the Attorney General of Pakistan and adjourned the hearing till the first week of May.
