BOY ABDUCTED by FATHER, taken to PAKISTAN

Jahanzeb Niazi, of Sialkot with a Canadian nationality, kidnapped his son all the way from Canada and took him to Pakistan in order to gain full custody. Little did he know that his partner and the mother of his child, Roshni Desai, a Canadian national of Indian origin, was able to trace him back to Pakistan.

The boy, Azan Sohail Niazi, was born on July 10, 2007, in Canada, out of Desai's union with Niazi. After the couple split up Jahanzeb initially had visitation rights to the child but he was not content and wanted complete custody. Therefore, he started negotiations with the mother and was given access to the child once a week.

According to Desai, on March 7, 2011, Azan went missing and when she tried to contact Niazi he wouldn’t answer her calls. Later, Jahanzeb guaranteed that the child would be handed over to her soon, but that never happened, she added.

On March 9, 2011, a Canadian police informed Desai that Jahanzeb Niazi, along with Azan, had flown away to Pakistan. She said since she had been told that her son had traveled on a Pakistani passport, she contacted the Pakistani Consulate.

Desai said she also filed a petition before the Canadian Superior Court (Family Division), Province of Cubic, District Montreal, Canada, and obtained an order which directed the respondent to hand over the child to her latest by March 15, 2011. The court also granted her legal custody of the child. Additional, she approached the Royal Canadian Mounted police which issued arrest warrants for Jahanzeb Niazi on charges of abduction.

She appealed to the Lahore High Court (LHC) that Jahanzeb Niazi did not have any legal right to custody of the minor according to the Canadian law and Muslim Family Laws of Pakistan since there was no legal marriage solemnized between them.

Jahanzeb Niazi had not even obtained Pakistani citizenship for Azan; therefore, legally, as a citizen of Canada the minor could not live in Pakistan according to an order of the Canadian Superior Court (Family Division), Montreal, Canada.

Earlier, the police produced the child and Jahanzeb Niazi in the court of the judge, Justice Asad Munir, who allowed the petitioner to meet her son in the courtroom.

The judge asked Jahanzeb, “Do you think that Pakistani culture would accept this child whereas in Canada he can live a better life?” The judge explained the sensitivity of the case to the unmarried couple and stressed that it should be resolved amicably. Justice Munir granted temporarily custody of the child to Desai and directed both the parents to reach an agreeable solution by next date of hearing, April 14.

Let's hope this gets resolved soon for the sake of the child.