Chinese woman’s khula case faces legal complications

A case involving a Chinese woman seeking a divorce (khula) from her Pakistani husband has encountered legal complications after conflicting rulings from the high court and a lower court. The case raises questions about the jurisdiction of Pakistani courts, child custody, and the woman’s visa status.

Mir Guli, a Chinese national, married Shah Zeb, a trader from Charsadda, in China in 2011. They have a 12-year-old daughter, Sofia. Mir Guli claims that her husband registered their daughter with NADRA in Pakistan, effectively revoking her Chinese nationality, but failed to register Mir Guli as his wife. Distressed by her husband's actions, she filed for khula in a Pakistani family court.

Shah Zeb's legal team argued that since the marriage took place and was registered in China, Pakistani courts lacked jurisdiction to handle the matter. However, Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi of the Lahore High Court's Rawalpindi Bench ruled that the case could be heard in Pakistan, where the wife resides. The judge instructed the lower court to hear the case on a daily basis, taking into account the woman's visa status, and directed the Ministry of Interior’s visa section to review her case.

Despite this, Family Court Judge Taimoor Afzal dismissed the khula plea, citing jurisdictional issues, on the same day the high court ruled in favor of hearing the case. As a result, an appeal has been filed before the Sessions Judge, along with a separate petition for the custody of their daughter Sofia, who currently lives with her father.