HC notice to MEA, state over Pak woman's plea against expulsion notice

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat high court on Monday issued notice to the ministry of external affairs, state government and Panchmahal district SP in response to a petition filed by Pakistani woman Maria Mohammed Qasim, who is married to Godhra carnage convict Irfan Pada.
Maria has been seeking directions to the Centre to consider her application for Long Term Visa (LTV) so that she can live with her husband and their new born daughter Savera in Godhra.She has also questioned the inaction on part of the local police authority in not forwarding her application for LTV to the authorities in the Centre.
Police has given Maria a deadline of January 8 to leave for Pakistan. Justice RM Chhaya has sought reply from concerned authorities by January 7. The HC has also ordered to serve a copy of the petition to the solicitor general. The court has ordered for direct service of notice, but Pada did not feel comfortable with the condition. He said, “The time is very little to complete the process because it is impossible for me to deliver the notice to authorities before January 6. The hearing would be the very next day.”
Maria had earlier filed a petition in the HC seeking directions to authorities to take a decision on her LTV application. She was pregnant then and gave an undertaking that she would quit India a month after the delivery of the child in case she did not get LTV. Panchmahal’s SP Raghavendra Vats issued notice to Maria on December 21 reminding her of the date to leave for Pakistan. This prompted her to move the HC again complaining that the SP should at least give reasons for his rejection of her application.
Pada was convicted along with 30 others in the Godhra train burning incident and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He obtained bail to marry Maria in November last year. The couple has a daughter, Savera, born on November 7.