Dear Ismail Sloan,

I am sending back your answer in the suit for divorce against you plus all copies of your counter-suit along with a sum of Rs. 200/- for the reason that the said suit is no more pending in my court. On 26-10-1983, I referred the said suit file to my higher authorities along with a request that any other competent court in some other district may be invested with the further trial of this suit of divorce.

This is because in some sections of national press, at the instance of some interested quarters, the district administration Chitral in general and I have been in particular mercilessly maligned and blamed for favoritism towards the defendant (you) and discrimination against the plaintiff (Honzagul). Given this kind of bias and mistrust against me, it was futile for me to continue proceedings in that suit and accordingly I was left with no option except to get it transferred from my court in the interest of justice as well as in the mutual interest of both the parties.

Nevertheless, let me assure you, as I have assured the plaintiff's attorney, that this transferring of this suit would not result in any damage to the rights and positions with respect to this suit of either party. Rather, in my personal opinion, the transferring of this suit and its further trial by a competent court in some down district would ensure a speediest disposal of this case because, here in Jirga Court at Chitral, the proceedings are normally glacially slow which is unaffordable to you as well as to the plaintiff.

Regarding the location of the prospective trial court, you will let it know just within a few days when the new trial court to which the trial of the suit of divorce is to be assigned, will be issuing you a summon process for appearance and filing of your written answer.

As your present counter suit for the restoration of conjugal rights is closely related to the suit of divorce filed by Mst. Honzagul, hence it would be better if you file it in that very court where the further trial of the suit for divorce is going to take place. That is why I am sending it back to you and you have got every legal right to file it in a competent court.

Any inconvenience caused to you is truly regretted.

Sincerely Yours,

Mian Haffez-ur-Rahman
Extra-Assistant Commissioner
Headquarters, Chitral

For an Urdu language article, see: Article attackling the EAC of Chitral, who was later found murdered .

For more about this "divorce", see: Reasons Why Honzagool is Still Legally my Wife . For the "divorce decree" itself, see: Ex-Party Order of Rawalpindi Family Court in Pakistan .

More than 100 articles have appeared about this in the newspapers of Pakistan. Many of those articles personally attacked Mian Hafiz-ur-Rahman, the judge on this case, who was later found murdered. For a typical example of one of those articles, see: Daily Nawa-i-Waqt for 6 October 1983 .

For a photo of Honzagool being prepared for marriage to me, see: Preparations for Marriage .For two other photos of Honzagool, see: Honzagool . For a photo of the family of Honzagool, see: Family of Honzagool in Chitral, Pakistan . For a photo of me and of our daughter Shamema, see: Shamema .