07/01/2025
The Peshawar High Court, in Mst. Amna v. Federation of Pakistan (PLD 2024 Peshawar 57), addressed a case of discrimination under the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951. Section 10(2) allows a Pakistani husband to get citizenship for his foreign wife but denies the same right to a Pakistani wife for her foreign husband. A Pakistani woman and her Afghan husband filed the case after authorities refused to issue him a Pakistan Origin Card (POC). The court referred to earlier judgments, such as Suo Motu (Gender Equality) (PLD 2008 FSC 1) and Mst. Rukhsana Bibi v. Government of Pakistan (PLD 2016 Lahore 857), which declared this provision discriminatory and against the Constitution. The court directed the authorities to consider the husband's case for a POC under the law.