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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\16\story_16-5-2007_pg7_21
LOL a slap on the face for a lot of people arguing about Hindus of Pakistan lately...Court asks ministry to consider Hindu coupleâs application
By Akhtar Amin
PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday declared illegal an Interior Ministry order, asking a Hindu couple to deposit a Rs 5 million security with an application forwarded by them for revival of their Pakistani citizenship. The court also directed the ministry to consider the application within a month without demanding the money.
âThere is no such provision or rules and regulations in the Pakistan Citizenship Act 1951 to ask foreigners to submit Rs 5 million for revival of their citizenship. Such an order is against the Act and should therefore be set aside,â announced a PHC division bench, consisting of Justices Talat Qayyum Qureshi and Ejaz Afzal Khan.
When the court took up a writ petition by Kanhyia Lal, who had challenged the Interior Ministryâs orders asking him to deposit Rs 5 million for revival of his Pakistani citizenship, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Salahuddin said that under section 14 of the Pakistan Citizenship Act, a foreigner could apply for another citizenship after his or her first citizenship was cancelled.
However, he could not explain the Rs 5 million security under the act, but said it would be a security for getting a Pakistani visa. On this the court said the petitioner had applied for revival of Pakistani citizenship, not for a visa. The bench set aside the ministryâs order and ordered it through the DAG to consider the petitionerâs application within a month for their Pakistani citizenshipâs revival. The court also extended their visa for staying in Pakistan for the next three months.
A Hindu couple, Kanhyia Lal and his wife Nisha Lal, had submitted an application to the Interior Ministry for revival of their Pakistani citizenship after returning from India where they had spent 14 years.
Kanhyia Lal married Indian national Nisha in 1983. The Pakistan government gave citizenship to Nisha Lal after she applied for the same. In 1999, both Kanhyia and Nisha went to India, but left their two children behind â in Peshawar. They applied for Indian citizenship, which was granted to them in 2000. Later, the couple returned to Pakistan in 2004 and applied for revival of their Pakistani citizenship.
Kanhyia Lal, in his writ petition stated that when the couple had applied for restoration of their Pakistani citizenship, the Interior Ministry had asked them to deposit Rs 5 million in security, which he said was impossible for them to submit.
âI could not submit the money to the Pakistan government, but moved the court towards this end,â Lal told Daily Times after the PHC decided the case in his favour.
