The lawyer for a Pakistani lesbian couple, who have been put in separate jails recently for marrying, has petitioned the court that they should be put in the same prison.

Rana Sajjad Hussain, lawyer for the lesbian couple Shumail Raj, 31, who underwent a sex change operation 16 years ago, and 26-year-old Shahzina Tariq, filed a petition in the Lahore high court asking for an order to put them in the same jail and to seek permission to meet them for legal consultation.

The couple was sent to separate jails on May 22 by the Lahore high court, which termed their marriage as an "unnatural act" not allowed by Islam or Pakistani law after a medical examination showed that Shumail was a woman.

Raj was sent to the Kot Lakhpat Jail and Shahzina to a jail in Faisalabad.

The petition, expected to be heard on Friday by the high court, has also scheduled responses to the showcause notices issued against the couple.

Judge Khawaja Sharif, hearing Pakistan's first-ever case of same-sex marriage, issued notices to the two asking them why they should not be charged for marrying a person of the same sex, a crime which carries a punishment of two years in jail to life imprisonment.

The court also asked them why they should not be charged for submitting a false affidavit claiming that Shumail was a man.

If found guilty, they face imprisonment of up to seven years.

The judge had also issued a showcause notice to Dr Abdul Hafeez of Kardar Specialist Hospital in Faisalabad who had removed Shumail's breasts and uterus.

The notice demands the law under which he was authorised to perform such a surgery, the Daily Times said.