ISLAMABAD: Justice Umar Ata Bandial of the Supreme Court highlighted on Wednesday the need of not converting Pakistan into a ‘close shop’ by taking a myopic view and shutting the doors to expatriates who have acquired foreign nationality but want to return back.

“Today it is the parliament, tomorrow doors can be shut (for them) to government jobs or other institutions,” feared Justice Bandial, reiterating the need for having a careful view while interpreting Section 14 of the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951, because the executive regulations in this regard were unguided.

“This is not only the question of the constitution but also that of the national development,” observed Justice Bandial, who is a member of the seven-judge Supreme Court bench that had taken up the case of dual nationality among civil servants and judges on a suo motu.

Headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, the larger bench also referred to the documents relating to the renunciation of the nationality of the United Kingdom by Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar to the foreign office, which will verify it through the British High Commission in Islamabad as well as the Secretary of State Office of UK.

Election of BAP candidate having dual nationality declared void

On March 5, the Supreme Court had raised questions over the election of Senators allegedly having dual nationality. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz appeared to be a major loser since three of the elected senators — Haroon Akhtar, the adviser to the Prime Minister on Revenue; Nuzhat Sadiq, chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs; and Saadia Abbasi, sister of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi — belong to it, while Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf was also elected as senator but later resigned to become governor.

Similarly, the Supreme Court decided on Oct 3 to determine a question that cropped up during the hearing — should the foreign nationality once acquired by lawmakers entail permanent bar to enter parliament even if they renounced it subsequently?

On Wednesday, senior counsel Hamid Khan, representing Chaudhry Sarwar, furnished document to show that his client had renounced British citizenship in July 2013 before becoming governor of Punjab. The counsel also showed the July 18, 2013 letter from the office of Ms Daffany, Manager Nationality Group (UK), confirming the renunciation of the citizenship.

During the hearing, the chief justice wondered whether any oath of being loyal to the Queen had to be taken or not under the British Nationality Act, 1981. At this Justice Gulzar Ahmed, also a member of the bench, observed that one had to be sworn even to fight for the Britain before getting UK citizenship.

Chaudhry Sarwar was born in then Lyallpur, now Faisalabad, on Aug 18, 1952. He went to the UK in 1975-76 and got the British citizenship in 1988.

At the outset of the proceedings, the chief justice asked the counsel to show documents suggesting renunciation by the governor of UK nationality was complete and irreversible and that the same would not be revived in case he returned to Britain again after the tenure of his office expired.

The same bench also set aside and declared as void the election of Mir Abdul Rauf Rind who had contested the general election 2018 from PB-47 Kech-III on the ticket of the Balochistan Awami Party.

Mr Rind was disqualified since it could not be established from the royal decree of Oman that he had renounced his Omani citizenship before contesting the election.

Mr Rind was born in 1979 in Gwadar after its accession to Pakistan under a treaty in 1958. His father was the citizen of Oman being born in the same place (Gwadar)before 1958.

Mr Rind’s counsel Kamran Murtaza argued that his client had renounced his Omani citizenship before contesting the election and even his nomination papers were accepted, but Additional Attorney General Nayyar Abbas Rizvi told the court that Oman was not on the list of 19 countries the nationality of which could be retained by a Pakistani citizen.

Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan emphasised that by renouncing the Omani citizenship Mr Rind have virtually became a stateless citizen since the moment he acquired the citizenship of Oman he lost the nationality of Pakistan.

Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed also observed that renunciation of Omani citizenship would not revive Mr Rind’s Pakistani citizenship automatically and while pointing towards the counsel the judge observed that he had made his client a stateless citizen.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2018