LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has ruled that to invoke jurisdiction of the Overseas Pakistani Commission, a complainant has to show that he/she is an overseas Pakistani as defined under the Overseas Pakistani Commission Act 2014.

“A person of Pakistani origin or national, who is not residing outside Pakistan, temporarily or permanently, for employment, business, vocation, or for any other purpose for an unspecified period, cannot be regarded as an overseas Pakistani,” explained a verdict passed by Justice Jawad Hassan on a petition challenging proceedings on a complaint before the commission.

The judge remarked that a person merely having nationality of another country, but living in Pakistan permanently could not be termed an overseas Pakistani. He maintained that the Act provided mechanism for redressal of grievances of and protection to overseas Pakistanis only and not every dual national.

The judge observed that the complainant only stated before the commission that he was a British national having a British passport without uttering anything about his permanent or temporary residence for a definite period in the UK.

Further, the judge said, the function of the commission is only to transmit the complaint to a government agency/department, defined in Section 2(g) of the Act, which has to exercise its powers within the parameters of the law applicable in the matter without assuming any extended role and no such self-augmented power.

Justice Hassan disposed of the petition with a direction that the complaint of the respondent (who holds foreign nationality) will be decided by the commission after hearing all concerned, including the petitioner, strictly in accordance with law.

He said the commission shall also determine whether the respondent is an overseas Pakistani and whether the dispute in hand is a third party dispute or one relating to government agencies. In the meanwhile, no adverse action shall be taken against the petitioner till a decision by the commission.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2020