The Indian lady doctor married to a Pakistani national and fighting a legal battle for citizenship has delivered a baby boy in Mardan in the North West Frontier Province.

Divya Dayanan, who hails from Kerala, lives in Mardan with her husband Aman Khan and in-laws and is working in one of the local hospitals.

Dayanan, who converted to Islam after marriage in July 2003 and changed her name to Hafsa, delivered a baby boy yesterday, Aman Khan told PTI over phone from Mardan.

Both the mother and the child are doing well and have been discharged from the hospital, he said.

The lady doctor hit the headlines recently after Pakistan's Interior Ministry declined to grant her citizenship despite her marriage to a Pakistani.

Her lawyer subsequently filed a case in the Peshawar high court contesting the Interior Ministry's decision after which she was granted two months extension of her visa.

Her case would come up for hearing on September 9 and if she fails to get citizenship, she would have to leave the country the same month.

Khan said the Pakistani government's refusal to grant his wife a visa has traumatised the entire family.

"It is an arduous struggle for my wife and the entire family due to the government's decision not to grant Dr Hafsa the citizenship. I am not sure what will be the fate of the child," he said.

Khan said his wife was not granted citizenship even though it was a routine matter, adding in the past any
foreigner woman marrying a Pakistani automatically got the citizenship under the Citizenship Act.

He said it was sad that she was denied citizenship at a time peace talks were going on between India and Pakistan.

She was denied citizenship even though he and his wife had become acting of ambassadors of peace and friendship between the two countries, Khan said.

The couple were currently examining various options, including travel to India to visit his wife's mother Vasantha Dayanan in Kayankulam in Kerala.

Vasantha has already sought help of the Indian High Commission to make arrangements for the couple to travel to India. The Indian High Commission officials have promised to grant visa to Khan.

Dayanan's case is the second one from Mardan to have been denied citizenship. Another Indian woman, Aquila Durrani, married to a Pakistani has also been denied Pakistani citizenship. She gave birth to a girl few days ago in Mardan.

Durrani was married to Imtiaz Ahmad of Kaskoorona, Mardan last year. Her father, Abdul Qudoos, was a Pakistani national and received his initial education from Mardan and later migrated to Bombay in 1961. Her request for Pakistani citizenship was turned down the interior division, Islamabad, in February.

Both Dayanan and Durrani have filed separate petitions before the Peshawar high court challenging the denial of citizenship. Durrani also filed an application in the high court, requesting the new-born girl be included as petitioner in the petition pending before the court.