ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) to probe the financial status of a man after his daughter filed a petition to disown him. In her petition, Tatheer Fatima, 22, requested the court remove her father’s name from her birth certificate and all of her educational degrees and other documents. A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing the case. During the course of proceedings, the petitioner told the court that she had last met her father in 2002. According to Fatima, her father neither paid for her maintenance nor registered her with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) due to which her identity card could not be made. She pleaded the court to add ‘Bint-e-Pakistan’ in place of her surname. The petitioner stated that she had no respect in the society. “Everywhere I go, I am asked about my father’s whereabouts,” Fatima said. The girl’s father, Shahid Anjum, was also in court for the hearing. He maintained that he would remain Fatima’s father till his last breath. “I am ashamed of standing here due to my daughter,” he said. To this, the chief justice said that the man was in court due to his own actions. Anjum then told the court that he was publicly humiliated after separating from his wife in 1996. He further claimed that he was never allowed to meet his daughter. The chief justice then inquired the man if he had ever made efforts to meet his daughter, sent any gifts or maintenance. Anjum responded in negative. When asked how he could pay for the girl’s maintenance, Anjum told the court that he was a poor man. The court then ordered the FIA to probe into the man’s financial status, and adjourned the hearing for 10 days. Published in Daily Times, September 14th 2018.