SC refuses to extend Pak couple’s stay

THE SUPREME Court on Friday refused to extend the stay of a Pakistani couple in India, saying it cannot question the government’s wisdom in deciding against granting them citizenship of this country.

“This is not in our realm of jurisdiction... how can we question their wisdom? It is for the executive to decide whether or not to extend your visa...whether or not to grant you citizenship. We will notinterfereinsuchmatters,”said abenchledbyjusticedipakmisra.

The court also declined to grant them two weeks to settle their affairs in India after noting that the couple had given an undertaking before the Bombay High Court on February 9, to leave this country within the next 10 days.

“Wearenotgoingtograntyou any relief. If your visa has expired and the government has decided against your stay here, you must go back to your country. There is no provision for this court to extend your visa when there has been an application of mind by competent authorities in deciding against you,” said the bench, also comprisingjusticesrbanumathi and Mohan M Shantanagoudar.

Petitioners Syed Waseem Ur Rehman and his wife Sayeda Saima Waseem Ur Rehman have been staying in Mumbai’s Bhandup since October 2010. Syed, who hails from Rawalpindi, claimed to be a descendant of a Sufi saint. The couple, who was previously deported in 2007, had come back to India in 2010 and applied for citizenship.

Rehman, in his petition, claimed that his grandfather was a freedom fighter who stayed in India after Partition while some other family members settled in Pakistan. The grandfather established several shrines across India and also started working for Sufism, claimed the plea, adding that in his will, he has declared Rehman heir to the various ashrams and shrines he established in India.

Arguing for the couple, senior lawyer Meenakshi Arora said that once they have applied for Indian citizenship,itwasallthemoredifficult for them to go back. Arora also cited Thursday’s bombing inside a Sufi shrine in Pakistan in which 88 people were killed and several injured. An Islamic State suicide bomber blew himself up inside the shrine of Sufi Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan town, 200 km from Karachi.