The Lahore High Court has ordered Sheikhupura police to recover a seven-year-old French-Pakistani boy and produce him before the court on September 6. The court issued the order following a petition filed by a French woman Peggy Collin seeking the recovery and custody of her son allegedly abducted by his dual national father, Muhammad Ishfaque, from France.
A police official on behalf of the DPO Sheikhupura appeared before the court on Friday submitted his failure in finding the boy because of the incorrect address, but the counsel for the appellant told the court that Ishfaque's address was correct.
The petitioner said Ishfaque had abducted her son in France without a French court's knowledge since both had already reached on an agreement. She said her former husband and his family was currently living in Sheikhupura where they have detained her son.
She said their relationship started deteriorating in 2001 after his husband took her son to Pakistan and only brought her back when she invoked the jurisdiction of French courts. They finally divorced in February 2003 though they later agreed on their son's custody allowing their son to remain with his mother while father would visit him on weekends.
Collin said Rashida Malik, her former husband's sister, was also present at the time when she handed over her son to his father on a weekend. However, after that Ishfaque with Omer and other family members disappeared from France on June 13. She complained to the French police failing to trace their child since he was no longer in France. She claimed that she was the legitimate guardian of the boy and the custody should be handed over to her so that she could take him back to France.
Collin's counsel also told the court that Pakistan was not a signatory to the Hague Convention but its spirit has been respected through numerous decisions of Supreme Court.
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