E-Paper | October 20, 2026

PML-N senators Haroon Akhtar, Sadia Abbasi disqualified over dual nationalities

Haseeb Bhatti Published October 17, 2018

PML-N senators Haroon Akhtar, Sadia Abbasi. —File

The Supreme Court on Wednesday disqualified PML-N senators Haroon Akhtar and Sadia Abbasi for holding dual nationalities at the time of filing their nomination papers for the upper house of the parliament.

Bilal Manto, who is assisting the SC in the case, said that whether or not a nationality could be completely renounced depends on that particular country's laws.

Citing Canada as an example, Manto said that the Canadian law does not allow its citizens to give up its nationality altogether once it has been procured.

Following Manto's argument, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar gave the orders of disqualification under Article 63 (1)(c) of the 1973 Constitution. The article pertains to a person's disqualification from Parliament due to holding the nationality of a country other than Pakistan.

During the hearing, Justice Nisar said that while the time of a person renouncing a nationality can be counted from the day they write to their respective embassy to relieve them of the second nationality, the letter should already be written at the time a candidate submits their nomination papers for a public office.

"This was not the case for Abbasi," the chief justice observed.

The chief justice also told the counsels of Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar and PML-N's Nuzhat Sadiq to furnish their clients' verified affidavits showing that they had given up their second nationalities before filing their nomination papers.

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Anti-Corruption_Pakistani

Oct 17, 2018 05:11pm

Good news and disqualify all others who have dual nationalities and aqamas.

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Dr Jamal

Oct 17, 2018 05:18pm

so what pml-n gained in by elections nullified!

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ali

Oct 17, 2018 05:22pm

disqualify them for lifetime

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Arshad

Oct 17, 2018 05:24pm

Great News.....Dual Nationals can have the option to live as they like but should not be lawmakers, Sad to see son of a great Pakistani General opting for a different nationality.

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Omer

Oct 17, 2018 05:29pm

And Zulfi Bukhari can conveniently hold a post"equivalent" to minister while keeping dual nationality. He is holding public office, getting salary from tax payers money and has influence equivalent to a minister.

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Nadia

Oct 17, 2018 05:37pm

Very good step indeed Keep up good work PTI, PM and CJ of Pakistan

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Awan

Oct 17, 2018 05:45pm

The money of foreign Pakistanis is required urgently , but not their services.

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Ordinary_citizen

Oct 17, 2018 05:49pm

Best of both worlds. It shows how our elite sees Pakistan. Means to an end.

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Ahmad

Oct 17, 2018 06:02pm

good

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Engineer

Oct 17, 2018 06:07pm

I think dual nationalist should stop supporting Pakistan financially all together. They are the first one to ask when financially help is required and in return they are not given equality. Most of the countries around the world does not punish for being public representative and dual citizen at the same time. Pakistan is a unique place in this case as well.

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Khawja Azizuddin

Oct 17, 2018 06:09pm

Dual nationality means retaining the Nationality of birth after being Naturilized or becoming citizen of second country. No country in the world permits to hold dual aligence when securing employment of federal government as a general practice and are absolutely prohibited from holding membership of legislative body which requires and permits sworn aligence and loyalty to only one country. After taking oath of aligence as naturilized citizen one cannot retain the Citizenship of non birth country. Having Aqama is not same as having Citizenship. Its just a resident visa and is not a certificate of citizenship or it has any adverse impact on status of primary citizenship. All federal or government postion requires oath of aligence to its government ie. If any individual once sworn in as a Canadian or American Citizen through naturalization cannot take oath of aligence to any other foreign government including to the country of their birth like Pakistan. If he or she is a Pakistan born citizen and later decides to become naturilized citizen of America or Canada or any other country then individual cannot not hold federal government or public office of any other country. The act of swearing in with the oath of fidality or aligence to any other country will result in losing citizenship or being denaturalized from his last country of citizenship.

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Masood(SW)

Oct 17, 2018 06:34pm

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many others carrying so called 'dual-citizenship' and permanent-residency-cards from other countries. There are even some planted by your neighbors to be in the legislature and I have seen their passports and the so called 'green cards'. And they openly declare about the possession of this criteria. By law even the siblings and close relatives should not possess another country's nationality.

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Aamir

Oct 17, 2018 06:36pm

Bad decision! Please also do not ask dual Pakistani nationals to vote and give money for dam!

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Mustafa

Oct 17, 2018 06:38pm

Finally the law that directly impacts the influencials is being enforced.

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Mustafa

Oct 17, 2018 06:38pm

As long as the request for revoking 2nd nationality is there, they should not hv been disqualified. Instead, SC should have given them the deadline to complete the revoking process. SC has become a political party.

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Zeeshandxb

Oct 17, 2018 06:58pm

Well nicely done. But election commission should vet them properly before allowing them to contest elections. It is an extra financial burden on exchequer to conduct elections on those seats.

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Danish

Oct 17, 2018 07:25pm

SC also make sure who give up their foreign Nationalities also give up their residency status in that country by giving up Nationalities still they can claim their benefits and claim back their nationalities when they kicked out from MNAS or senetor ship. For example ch. Sarwar Rehman Malik and many more.

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Falcon1

Oct 17, 2018 07:26pm

Oh Canada, the promised land of all the undesriables, who cannot otherwise get into the USA. Please enjoy your refugee status there. Forget about medling in Pakistani politics.

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What about me

Oct 17, 2018 07:42pm

Hypocrisy that parliamentarians get disqualified because they did not renounce before submitting nomination but PM advisors can have dual nationality while on active duty.

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ivehadit

Oct 17, 2018 08:00pm

on the one hand we say we love expats and want them to send money. then this!

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Baloch

Oct 17, 2018 08:03pm

CJP’s misses everything except pmln.

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SharamKaro

Oct 17, 2018 08:05pm

Why we have Ch Sarwar, Zulfi and others in Govt. what a dual standard this justice system has

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Tamza

Oct 17, 2018 08:24pm

I wonder how many bureaucrats and generals have dual nationalities!

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Alba

Oct 17, 2018 08:33pm

Good. Now what about the rental properties they own overseas?

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Oct 17, 2018 08:34pm

ECP should be required to do its due diligence in advance on every applicant before accepting nomination papers and before giving permission to each candidate for contesting of election. I am sure that there are more dual nationals sitting in the parliament and the government who have not been discovered so far.

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Md Malik

Oct 17, 2018 08:35pm

I feel sad for such duel nationals who are trying to serve their homeland Pakistan. They are Nationals too just like anyone else. We should change this law. Do we need only money from them for Dam, etc. not service! There usually prove to be much responsible than locals who have bad records often.

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Nadeem

Oct 17, 2018 08:45pm

Wondering why only PML-N senators. If FIA digs properly, majority will be holding foreign residency and citizenship!

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akram

Oct 17, 2018 08:47pm

absolutely correct decision, justice must prevail regardless of who is being questioned

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Zeb Khan

Oct 17, 2018 08:59pm

PMLN politicians have dual nationality so they have somewhere to escape to after they loot Pakistan.

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Sameer

Oct 17, 2018 09:01pm

Dual Nationals have been given a chance to pick a side. They should now be expunged from the system.

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Frkh

Oct 17, 2018 09:03pm

Good move. Leadership and lawmakers should only have allegiance to the country they serve.

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Tariq

Oct 17, 2018 09:03pm

They are both not credible there by they both should be banned from running any political office in Pakistan.

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PakistaniN_USA

Oct 17, 2018 09:10pm

Pakistan can never root out corruption if dual nationalities are allowed amongst its lawmakers in the federal and provincial levels and in certain levels and above of the bureaucratic class. By very definition, dual nationalities means dual loyalties. Hence, dual loyalties means divided loyalties, therefore, these high level bureaucrats and elected official are not 100% loyal to Pakistan. Very simple concept to understand. They all need to renounce their loyalties to other countries before they can serve Pakistan with 100% of their heart and abilities.

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Feroz

Oct 17, 2018 09:24pm

Are these two the only Legislators with dual nationality ?

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saeed

Oct 17, 2018 09:36pm

Pmln is a party of corrupt and they should not be allowed to come t rule and loot in-debt and to destroy the country furthe. this party leader is extremly corrupt at the same his downline darbaris

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saeed

Oct 17, 2018 09:38pm

@Omer At least he did not rule and loot the country unlike the ppp or pmln leadership and darbaris

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ExMohajirUK

Oct 17, 2018 09:51pm

@Engineer In UK, anyone can become a MP, it is not required to be a British national, you can register to vote without being a British national. Looks like we are going backwards.

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steven

Oct 17, 2018 09:56pm

@Falcon1 The majority of Pakistanis in Canada did not come as refugees but as legal skilled immigrants and most of them work and pay taxes. Members of the Ahmadiyya community living in Canada may have come as refugees claiming they are fleeing persecution and a lot of other Muslims in Canada do not work and live on welfare ( state Khayrat) but it is not accurate to characterise the Pakistani community in Canada as majority of refugee origin like in European countries such as Germany or Sweden. I think that the new brand of dual national should be banned from Pakistani politics but why does Imran Khan keep appointing UK Pakistanis who are in a worse economic climate that most expatriate Pakistanis?

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Oct 17, 2018 09:58pm

@Falcon1 Not really. Most of us here in Canada dont want to go and live in states even though we can with Canadian passport.

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Moth

Oct 17, 2018 10:02pm

I know one used to have US nationality. Our elite they have more fun being in Pakistan than being a US national and being in the US. In Pakistan thousands will be requesting our elite can you please help my son or daughter getting a good job. I will salute you. I will be grateful and thankful. Power is adictive and abusive.

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Citizen26

Oct 17, 2018 10:07pm

Why are political parties not fined for such inefficiency? Every party should be responsible for such things

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Nooruddin

Oct 17, 2018 10:14pm

Great. Get them out across the board! THANK YOU

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Truth Sayer

Oct 17, 2018 10:20pm

Wut lies n deception. U can easily renounce any citizenship of any country. As of Canada. I know exactly u can easily renounce it. U can download the form n send it to the embassy. Stop ur lies pmln.. Gud decision by SC. Disqualify them all..

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Alla Bux

Oct 17, 2018 10:37pm

I have dual nationality and so I guess I will never be an MNA in Pakisan, not that I want to.

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Alla Bux

Oct 17, 2018 10:40pm

This is what Canadian Government Website says: To be eligible to apply to renounce your Canadian citizenship, you must: be a citizen of a country other than Canada or become a citizen of a country other than Canada if your application to renounce is approved not live in Canada be at least 18 years old not be a threat to Canada’s security or part of a pattern of criminal activity not be prevented from understanding the significance of renouncing your Canadian citizenship by reason of having a mental disability and not be subject to revocation of citizenship proceedings. Did Manto mislead the Honorable Supreme Court? If so he should be held in contempt.

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Jalbani Baloch

Oct 17, 2018 10:41pm

Good decision. Anyone with dual nationality shall not be allowed to hold any official position in the State of Pakistan. Those, who abandon their country and adopt new country as their homeland for whatsoever reasons question their loyalty to their country of origin. Therefore, such people may be forbidden to hold any official position in the country.

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Dawn

Oct 17, 2018 11:16pm

Excellent. There are more of them out there. Get them.

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Faheem Ahmed

Oct 18, 2018 12:07am

Dual Parameters for different Parties. One side , Anil Musarat , Zulfi Bukhari & Sahabzada Jahangir are being appointed as Kath Putli PM Advisor . & on other Hand Victimization are in full swing.

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Oct 18, 2018 01:25am

Haroon and Sadia both cheated,they kept their dual nationalities until past the election just in case if they loose they may not have to surrender their nationalities. Besides they consider themselves as heavyweights who have the right to be in parliament and be part of the ruling class for their own benefit without delivering anything for the country or its poor masses.Good action by the SC.

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Ayub

Oct 18, 2018 01:26am

The same yardstick should also be applied to government servants who have dual nationality.

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Sabir Shah.

Oct 18, 2018 01:32am

Totally agree with SC. They either be loyal to one or the other. They cannot put their feet in two boats as per Pakistan constitute. Typically they make more money in Pakistan through flaw job then they can ever in there second countries. They basically keep 2nd passport for run away to secure their looted wealth.

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Kashmiri

Oct 18, 2018 01:39am

@Engineer Australia does not allow dual nationals to run for national assembly, just citing one example

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JA-Australia

Oct 18, 2018 02:09am

@Engineer Australia does NOT allow dual nationals in Parliament. Several Australian parliamentarians have had to resign. Dual nationals should not be allowed in Pakistani parliament either. As a dual national, I am happy to gift money for dams and charity in Pakistan because she is our mother, but anyone running for political office should have undivided loyalty to Pakistan.

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Pervez

Oct 18, 2018 02:25am

@Awan you can’t have person with dual loyalties serving in Pakistani Government.

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Yankee Cricket Fan

Oct 18, 2018 02:34am

@Engineer You are completely wrong. US and Austria have similar laws about dual citizenship.

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Ahsan Gul

Oct 18, 2018 02:53am

If these two did not disclose their duel nationality then they have violated Pakistan’s trust. Get them out of parliament, please. Thanks

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Oct 18, 2018 03:07am

@Awan there is difference my friend. Pakistanis working hard out of country to earn hard cash and send it back to thier country to help the economy is one thing. Getting dual nationality so they can run away after looting the nation is another thing.

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Oct 18, 2018 03:14am

good. please continue with this clean up !

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MALIK

Oct 18, 2018 03:23am

They should not have been allowed to contest in the first place. What a wastage of time and money. Would there be another election? No wonder we keep going to IMF

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abdur raheem jalalzai

Oct 18, 2018 03:28am

It is American Law,you can't have American Citizenship if you are also citizen of another country(except for citizens of Israel).Does America know that these Pakistanis are so called "Dual Citizens)?

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Saeed Ahmec

Oct 18, 2018 03:33am

The statement by the lawyer, about renouncing Canadian nationality, is not correct. Canadians can renounce their nationality following simple procedure.

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Domi

Oct 18, 2018 03:54am

Now this can’t be a coincidence! PMLn snatches 2 seats from PTI in Punjab and next things these two are disqualified. What was election commission doing when they filed their papers initially?

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khalid

Oct 18, 2018 04:04am

Very Good some house cleaning!

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Real salaria

Oct 18, 2018 04:06am

PTI’s Faisal Vawda is also a US citizen. He lied saying he renounced it but the US State Department issued a complete list every quarter of people who renounce their citizenship and Faisal Vawda’s name is not there in that list.

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fairplay

Oct 18, 2018 05:26am

@Omer he needs to be removed. too much controversy

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fairplay

Oct 18, 2018 05:27am

@ali if the ECP form has a declaration of only pakistani nationality, yes. bar them for life for lying.

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fairplay

Oct 18, 2018 05:27am

@Awan not service as lawmakers with split allegiances, NO.

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Babar

Oct 18, 2018 05:31am

@Khawja Azizuddin and other suggesting that no country allows dual-national to serve in their government are utterly wrong. Many countries, including the USA has no prohibition on dual citizens serving in the government, including military, intelligence and elected bodies, with the exception of the President & Vice President. Nor is it true that many countries will revoke citizenship if a person works for another government or runs for public office. In the case of USA, unless a US citizen holds Policy Level office that will have clear conflicts with US foreign policy, such as Head of State or Foreign Minister, their citizenship cannot be revoked. I understand the sentiment behind this ban on dual-nationality but it is misguided and counterproductive. This ruling basically ensures that Pakistani diaspora, consisting of millions of bright qualified individuals, and their children are not welcome in Pakistan. Yet, we want overseas Pakistanis to donate money & uplift the country??

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fairplay

Oct 18, 2018 05:36am

@Mustafa no, request for and giving up nationality are two different steps. A request can later be rescinded. better the prospective lawmaker has completed process to give up other citizenships. this is an absolute, with little doubt. a letter of inquiry to the embassy will be positive confirmation that citizenship is given.up or not. anything else is not absolute proof. the ECP needs to write to the embassy to confirm. no reply, no ticket in the election. the political party should be held responsible.

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Random Stranger

Oct 18, 2018 05:37am

@Falcon1 Actually, in Canada, Pakistanis have to get higher education in Canadian universities and job offers to get PRs and citizenships. Where as in USA, most Pakistanis went on family based chain migrations and not on merit. No wonder we see so many Pakistanis working as taxi drivers and 7-11 workers there. So no, Canadian Pakistanis are not "undesirables" rejected by USA as you put it. Regards

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Syed Niaz Ali UAE

Oct 18, 2018 05:41am

@Khawja Azizuddin : you are right Green Card, Canadian permit and citizen ship of other country SC decision supported very this is good decision, let clear here the Iqama is more dangerous, have to ban in Pakistan, the reason are many but Iqama is used to open in other countries, there the mentioning resident UAE, KSA and M/E, run there foreign currencies account.

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Chacha

Oct 18, 2018 06:38am

Bring people who were born, raised and educated in Pakistan

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Oct 18, 2018 06:40am

@Dr Jamal -No, it is not the case. PML-N won 4 seats in the parliament and not in the Senate.

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three star company inc

Oct 18, 2018 07:19am

@Arshad strange,overseas can vote and may change the results,hence political arena,but can not became member than why he is allowed to vote,but can not become member?Pakistani origin as US citizen,can vote and contest for any(except for presidentship)seat

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N Abidi

Oct 18, 2018 08:24am

Some one at least is working on behalf of Pakistan public! Do not let them ever come back!

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Saigol Shahryar

Oct 18, 2018 09:48am

@Engineer Australia also does not allow dual citizens to run for public office

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Mahmood

Oct 18, 2018 01:01pm

@Random Stranger Your glowing rendition of strict immigration rules for Canada is completely FALSE and misleading. Everyone knows that anyone can apply for Canadian immigrantion visa, based on point system or family ties. I personally know dozens of people and families, who all moved from different parts of the world to ghettos like Mississuage, Brampton etc, low-income neighborhood, without first having secured a job, or even knowing any English., So your rubbish of taxi drivers in the US (I suippose there are none in Canada, or are they all Phd holders?) is completely whitewashing the fact that Canada welcomes more Asylum seekers, refugees or those who arrive in Canada in bogus visas or forged passports and simply disapper, after applying for Asylum status. That can and has not happend in the US, because before anyone even boards a flight to the US, his passport and visa is checked at several points along the way and a passinger manifest is sent to the US before the flgiht arrives.

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Omer (USA)

Oct 18, 2018 03:31pm

How can one have another nationality and be considered loyal to a country? Also, where is our intellegencia who needs to vet all these papers?

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Khurram Ali Khan

Oct 18, 2018 05:20pm

How could Humayun Akhtar contest a NA seat in the recent by-elections on a PTI ticket when he is holding a Senator seat of PMLN? He can be in two political parties simultaneously???

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SSR

Oct 18, 2018 07:24pm

@Engineer For information, Australia has the same law. Recently a number of Australians were disqualified from holding public office due to being dual nationals.

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Ali Kazmi

Oct 18, 2018 09:14pm

@Omer; SC only interprets the law and does not make the law. Apparently Zulfi Bukhari is outside the ambit of the current law, If you believe otherwise, feel free to petition the SC, it is the most fair court on earth.

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Ali Kazmi

Oct 18, 2018 09:20pm

@What about me; 'parliamentarians get disqualified because they did not renounce before submitting nomination but PM advisors can have dual nationality while on active duty.' Too bad parliamentarians are the ones who made this law, SC is only interpreting the law as it stands.

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Mir Jehan Zeb,MD

Oct 19, 2018 07:09am

Half news again. What were their other nationalities?

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The Ungreatful

Oct 19, 2018 07:38am

the rate at which disqualifications are granted, I guess, one day there will be no one left in either of the houses

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Khalid Sultan

Oct 19, 2018 09:05am

Countries like Israel has dual nationals involved in good governance. They get the best people as long they are Israeli or dual citizens. Don’t be so restrictive, just don’t allow the corruption and misuse by anyone.

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M. Siddique

Oct 19, 2018 10:45am

The two did not know what their countries laws say? Ridiculous.

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M. Siddique

Oct 19, 2018 10:46am

@Anti-Corruption_Pakistani, Aqamas are NOT equivalent to nationality.

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M. Siddique

Oct 19, 2018 10:48am

@Omer, Public offices are only Elected offices not any other appointed position. Experts can be appointed in Non-Elected positions.

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M. Siddique

Oct 19, 2018 10:50am

@Nadia, Sorry, you can't have their money and not services. It does not work that way.

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FIDA SAYANI

Oct 19, 2018 11:34am

All those holding dual nationalities should be removed from the Assemblies and civil and Military service in Pakistan. There is no room for dual national in Pakistan. However they should be allowed to establish business and do charitable work in Pakistan, provide the are not undermining the laws and constitution of Pakistan.

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