Pakistan: Update to PAK37747.E of 16 August 2001 regarding procedures taken by airport authorities when a woman leaves the country with her children but without her husband

The Director of AGHS Legal Aid Cell (ALAC), an all-women's law firm based in Lahore (Europaworld 9 Mar. 2001; FNSt n.d.), provided the Research Directorate with information she obtained during interviews with the Assistant Director of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)—the authority responsible for controlling exit and entry into Pakistan at the airports. The Director, who is a lawyer and founding member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (Europaworld 9 Mar. 2001), said that, according to the FIA, there are no obstacles facing a woman leaving Pakistan with her children but not her husband, as long as she possesses valid passports and visas (ALAC 15 Oct. 2003). If the travel documents are valid, a woman does not require the consent or permission of her husband, either in person, in writing or by telephone, to leave the country on her own while with her children (ibid.). This is the case whether the children are endorsed on her passport or have their own passports (ibid.). The Director also noted that immigration officials do not intervene even when children are travelling alone without either parent (ibid.).

In the case where a divorce is pending or custody or guardianship of the children has been filed, the Director relayed the following information:

The immigration authorities don't have any data or record of the guardian courts or [of] any higher courts in Pakistan. The authorities only intervene when any specific order from the court is made to authorities to stop the children from going abroad. Such orders are entered in a register called [the] 'Involvement Register' which is kept at the concerned airports. In the absence of any order from the competent courts, the authorities don't intervene (ibid.).

Regarding whether airport authorities would be aware of a case in which a First Information Report (FIR) has been lodged against the mother for kidnapping her own children, the Director explained that

[t]he authorities' only source through which to access such information is the Interior Ministry. No police official is authorized to inform the immigration authorities. In [the case where an] FIR is lodged against the mother, the police officials inform the Interior Ministry which directs the authorities to include the name of the mother in [the] Involvement Register, Check List, Black List or Exit Control List (ECL) etc., or otherwise. ...

The Interior Ministry has control over the Exit Control List, so the name of such woman or children can be included. The immigration authorities only enter the name in the ECL by orders of [the] Interior Ministry. They don't have their own control over the matter (ibid.).

Corroborating the information above, a consular official at the High Commission for Pakistan, in Ottawa, said that he was unaware of any restrictions a woman would face or special consent she would need to produce to airport authorities when leaving the country with only her children, as long as she possessed proper travel documents (10 Oct. 2003).

As well, the Sales Manager at the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) office in Toronto said in a telephone interview that a woman exiting Pakistan does not need to produce a letter of consent from her husband to allow her to leave the country without her husband though with her children (15 Oct. 2003). According to the Sales Manager, neither PIA, nor any of the airport check points—two levels of customs, passport control and security at the departure gate—would require her to produce a letter of consent from her husband for her to leave the country with her children (PIA 15 Oct. 2003).

However, according to the US Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs advisory on international parental child abduction claims,

[u]nder Pakistani family law, which is based on Islamic law, the father controls virtually all aspects of his family's life. He decides where his wife and children will live, how the children are to be educated and whether or where they may travel. Courts rarely, if ever, give custody of children to a woman who is not a Muslim, who will not raise the children as Muslims, does not plan to raise them in Pakistan, or has remarried. In all probability, even if the mother wins custody, the children would still need the father's permission to leave the country. ...

If a foreign born mother were granted full custody of her child, the father has the right to refuse to allow the mother and child to depart if the court order does not specifically allow her to remove the children from Pakistan (US n.d.).

Commenting on the advisory above, the Director of ALAC stated the following:

The information given by the immigration authorities is correct in general. However, courts have in some cases dealt with issues of custody in a manner which has prejudiced the mother's right to custody and undermined her rights as a parent as compared to the father. The State Department's report is obviously based on judgments of Pakistani courts interpreting and applying [judgments barring] mothers from leaving the country with the children. If the immigration authorities receive an order from the court they have to comply, and, in some such cases women have had difficulty leaving the country with their children. Many of these women were foreign nationals, but even Pakistani mothers, in some cases, have confronted such problems. I would say that a problem of discrimination and unequal treatment does exist, but lies with the interpretation of the law of guardianship and custody by a section of the judiciary and not with laws or policies regarding exist or entry into Pakistan (16 Oct. 2003).

It should be noted that Pakistan is not a signatory to the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (HCPIL 23 Sept. 2003), a

multilateral treaty, which seeks to protect children from the harmful effects of abduction and retention across international boundaries by providing a procedure to bring about their prompt return (ibid. n.d.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

AGHS Legal Aid Cell (ALAC), Lahore. 16 October 2003. Correpondence from the Director.
_____. 15 October 2003. Correpondence from the Director.

Europaworld. 9 March 2001. No. 25. "Asma Jahangir and Hina Jilani." [Accessed 15 Oct. 2003]

Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung (FNSt), South Asia Regional Office, New Delhi. n.d. "Pakistan: AGHS-Legal Aid Cell (ALAC)." [Accessed 10 Oct. 2003]

Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCPIL). 23 September 2003. "Full Status Report Convention #28." [Accessed 10 Oct. 2003]
_____. n.d. "Welcome to the Child Abduction Home Page of the Hague Conference." [Accessed 10 Oct. 2003]

High Commission for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Ottawa. 10 October 2003. Telephone interview with consular official.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Toronto. 15 October 2003. Telephone interview with the Sales Manager.

United States (US). n.d. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs. "Pakistan: International Parental Child Abduction." [Accessed 9 Oct. 2003]

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB Databases

Internet sites, including:

Dawn

Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Washington

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

Karachi News

Pakistan High Commission - Canada

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

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