ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Nayyar Bokhari put off on Monday voting on a resolution calling upon the government to publish the names of judges with dual nationality, after Information Minister Pervez Rashid sought time from the house to make a fresh effort to seek the details from the Supreme Court registrar.

Seemingly as a result of a behind-the-scenes understanding between the treasury and opposition members, the chairman readily granted time to the minister to make an effort to obtain the names.

It was after some fiery speeches from the treasury and opposition benches, criticising the judiciary for not providing the names of the judges holding dual nationality, that the minister said he would write a letter to the Supreme Court registrar with a request to provide information sought by the members a number of times.

The resolution on the subject had been moved by PPP’s Farhatullah Babar. Initiating the debate, he said questions had repeatedly been asked both in the Senate and National Assembly over the past 16 months about the identity of dual-national judges, if any, but it was merely stated that the law and the constitution did not bar dual nationals from becoming judges.

Haji Adeel of the ANP, Saeed Ghani of the PPP and Hafiz Hamdullah of the JUI-F supported his point of view.

Meanwhile, the house passed the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2013, moved by ANP’s Ilyas Bilour on Dec 2, which seeks to block the promotion of bureaucrats bearing dual nationality in the basic pay scale of 20 and above.

The house also passed two resolutions and a private member’s bill.