Wife Has Gone Back to Her Parents' Home

Question: I am abroad, and my wife and children are in Pakistan. My wife, upset, has gone back to her parents' home along with her parents. Having gone there, she has filed a claim for maintenance and dowry items. I did not find out, and it seems a decree was passed on that claim. After the decree, it went into execution. In execution, warrants have been issued against me, and those arrest warrants have been sent abroad, because of which I am facing difficulties here. Please explain how we can resolve this.

Answer: A family case is a civil case, to which civil law applies to some extent. If you were unaware and warrants have been issued against you, immediately appoint someone as your special attorney and send that appointment to Pakistan. In Pakistan, that special attorney will file a unilateral application on your behalf, in the same court where that claim was decreed, stating that, sir, the defendant in this case has been residing abroad for so long, we were not aware that he had not come to Pakistan, so this judgment and decree should be suspended and ultimately set aside — we want to contest this claim, everything in it is based on falsehood. When you submit this application to the court, the court will suspend that judgment and decree. After suspending it, it will investigate, through evidence, whether the defendant was actually served or not. When the court reaches the conclusion that yes, the defendant was not served, it will declare that judgment and decree, that order, void. When it declares it void, the claim will revert to its original form. Then you will file your written statement in reply. After filing the written statement in reply, you will produce evidence. Before appointing a special attorney, you should take care to have the special power of attorney made through a lawyer, so that it also states that this is the case, this case may also go to appeal, applications also need to be filed in this case, this case has to be fought up to the Supreme Court, evidence also needs to be given in this case, authority is also given to settle this case — that is, it is essential that this special power of attorney mention all the powers that you yourself could exercise. This is the whole process for a unilateral (ex parte) situation. Now there is another type of person — one who sent a special attorney, or who was present in Pakistan when the case started, fought the case a little, and then went abroad to earn a livelihood, and it was not pursued afterward. Keep one thing in mind: if you do not fight the case, you will have to bear the consequences. The law always helps those who are alert. It helps those who are conscious, who are alert. The law does not help the unaware and the negligent. If you were present, and after being present you became absent, and a decree was passed in it, or you lost the case through your special attorney and that decree reached its final stage, then warrants will be issued against you and you will also be caught. Now, in that situation, what should you do? In that situation too, you should submit an application stating that, sir, I was present here, after that I left the country for employment, and I appointed a special attorney who colluded with the other party, and I had to bear these consequences — kindly have this set aside. The court may accept your submission; otherwise, whatever decree has been passed will have to be enforced.