Govt comment sought on amended law allowing dual nationals to contest polls

Tahir Siddiqui Published September 8, 2015

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday directed the provincial authorities to file their respective comments on a constitutional petition challenging an amendment to the Sindh Local Government Act that allows dual nationals to contest the local bodies elections.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, also issued a notice to the provincial government law officer and put off the hearing to a date to be later pronounced by the court office.

The petition was filed by a practising lawyer, Advocate Zulfiqar Ali Domki, who impleaded the chief secretary and secretaries of the local government and law departments as respondents.

The petitioner submitted that the Sindh Assembly on Aug 11 passed the Sindh Local Government (Third Amendment) Bill, 2015, whereby clause (c) of sub-section 1 of Section 36 was omitted. The clause describes in detail some 11 conditions for the disqualification of a candidate from contesting the local government election.

He said the amendment allowed citizens with dual nationality to contest the upcoming local government elections.

Advocate Domki said the omitted clause stated: “He ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan; or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state” as one of the conditions on the basis of which a prospective candidate could be disqualified or disbarred from contesting the local bodies election.

He submitted that Article 63 (1) of the Constitution clearly states that a person shall be ‘disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), if he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan, or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state’. “This clearly means that a person acquiring the citizenship of a foreign state cannot be either elected or chosen or continue to remain as a parliamentarian if he acquires the citizenship of a foreign state,” he added.

The petitioner said that dual nationality implied divided loyalties and thus those individuals who adopted nationalities other than Pakistani should not be allowed to contest the elections and represent the people of Pakistan.

He said the amendment was made with malafide intent and was not sustainable in law. “Actually the amendment was made to accommodate near and dear ones of ministers, MNAs and MPAs of the ruling party who are dual nationality holders,” he added.

He pleaded to the court to declare that the amendment was illegal, malafide, void ab initio, unconstitutional and of no legal effect.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2015

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Tahir Siddiqui is a Karachi-based reporter for Dawn with over 35 years of experience covering the Sindh Assembly, Karachi City Council, and the provincial government. He can be found on X at @DawnReporterTS.

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Vic

Sep 08, 2015 08:49am

Dual citizens are those who are citizens of Pakistan and now another country which has an agreement with Pakistan to keep the citizenship. Not all countries allow dual citizenship for Pakistani citizens. Most countries when you take their citizenship---you denounce your Pakistani citizenship.

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Urooj Fatima USA

Sep 08, 2015 09:26am

I am dual national NO NEED for voting or contesting election for dual nationality implied divided loyalties and thus those individuals who adopted nationalities other than Pakistani should not be allowed to contest the elections and represent the people of Pakistan. 100% we have seen Shoukat Aziz after finishing his loyalties r with another country steel Mills job. We thank u no need for this and dismiss petition. our request is that our hard currency FX a/c are exempted and we request our Rupees a/c should not w/holding tax levied.

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ASAD IQBAL

Sep 08, 2015 09:28am

one who dont trust on Pakistan citizenship and grabs passport of another country should not be allowed to contest elections. these people do mess and run away. hamay woh chahiyay jis ka jeena merna sirf Pakistan.

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Nadeem

Sep 08, 2015 09:46am

Dual national simply means 'Divided Loyalty'. How can we allow them to run our country?

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Ashraf Usman

Sep 08, 2015 10:31am

Dual nationals have no faith in our country then why allow them to rule us. No way.

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Harris

Sep 08, 2015 11:51am

Pakistan should allow its citizens to freely hold multiple citizenships but those citizens are not allowed to vote, enter Govt. service or perform military duties...

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Zubair

Sep 08, 2015 12:02pm

Why is this even a debate? A foreign national cannot hold an elected post in the state of Pakistan. Dual nationality makes you a foreign citizen "also". By allowing this, a person of Indian nationality marry a Pakistani, get dual citizenship, and contest for any government post. Dual nationality holders being allowed to contest elections is not only absurd, it is a dangerous precedent.

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@expat

Sep 08, 2015 12:33pm

Dual nationals should neither be allowed to contest polls at any level nor should they hold any public office. Its quite enough that they are allowed to hold Pakistani citizenship. Also those who have their financial interests in other countries should not hold public offices. Only those who earn and live in Pakistan can serve their people with empathy and understanding of their problems.

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Sep 08, 2015 01:31pm

Dual nationals have the world exposure, so they are in better position to bring fresh and new ideas in terms of public service, development and governance to their motherland. Pakistan born dual nationals are an asset which Pakistan should benefit from in all fields. Laws need to be amended to allow dual nationals to vote, contest elections and to serve in important government positions. In the modern world, dual nationals have all the privileges including contesting local or national level elections. If Pakistan born dual nationals can contest elections in the US, then why not in their country of birth?

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aslam shaikh

Sep 08, 2015 03:17pm

Please do this ammendment, 50% politicians have dual nationalities and 90%. Of their kids have it. Please for their future, give them a chance to run for elections and collect more wealth

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With due respect

Sep 08, 2015 06:32pm

Overseas Pakistanis are sending hefty amounts of foreign exchange to motherland,which is greatly helpful for the motherland economy.Acquiring dual nationality is a legal phenomenon,and if you just check the statistics 'dual nationals'are more law abiding and less corrupt ,just see the list of corrupt presently facing corruption charges,majority of them are 'single nationality'.Hence the court should allow 'dual nationals'their full inalienable right to vote or contest.

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Sara ally Qureshi

Sep 08, 2015 11:22pm

@AW you may be born in Pakistan but if you want to contest for any political office in USA you have to give up your other passport.

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Waqar Qureshi

Sep 09, 2015 01:29am

Dual citizenship does not mean 'divided loyalty' rather it means expanded loyalty which favor pakistan because dual citizenship holders do care to vote in another country's election to make sure that new government in in favor of pakistan. Dual citizenship holder always think to see pakistan as a strong country like any other pakistani does. I think they should definetly be allowed to vote in pakistan's election because they only care to see better pakistan rather than personally favoring any particular political party.

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