M A I N   N E W S

Pak extends visa of Indian woman facing deportation

Islamabad, July 22
The Pakistani Government today allowed an Indian doctor, who faces deportation from Pakistan on expiry of her visit visa, to stay in the country for another 60 days.

Dr Divya Dayanan, 22, now Hafza Aman, married Aman Khan Hoti last year after embracing Islam. The two settled in Mardan, 60 km north of Peshawar. They are expecting their first child next month.

The couple, who met while studying in Ukraine in 1998, submitted numerous applications to senior officials in the Home Ministry to register Hafza as a Pakistani citizen, but they were repeatedly denied.

“This is pathetic that the extension, which I had sought since March 4 this year, has been granted four days ahead of the expiry of my wife’s visa,” Amman Hoti said.

He said Interior Ministry officials still seemed adamant to register his wife as a Pakistani citizen. The interior division had asked Hoti’s wife, who comes from the Indian state of Kerala, to leave when her visa expires. — DPA