LAHORE, Oct 14: The Pakistan Muslim League-N has said it will oppose the 22nd constitution amendment bill set to be taken up by a Senate standing committee on Monday.

“We will not support the bill until the government addresses our reservations over certain important points. The proposed legislation lacks clarity, but the government is bent upon adopting it in haste,” PML-N’s media coordinator and former senator Tariq Azeem told Dawn on Sunday.

He alleged that undue haste was being shown to process the legislation only to protect some members who faced disqualification for concealing their dual nationality during the elections in 2008.

He said the PML-N was not against giving overseas Pakistanis the right to vote. “Anybody who holds the green passport or computerised national identity card should have the right to vote whether the person has dual or triple nationality.”

Mr Azeem said the Election Commission should be authorised to allow postal ballot for the expatriates, as is the practice in many countries.

About the dual nationality of potential candidates, he said they should not be allowed to contest the elections as long as there was a constitutional bar on them. The PML-N would have no objection if parliament abolished this restriction with two-thirds majority, but it would lend its support to the effort only after its reservations were addressed by the government, he added.

Mr Azeem regretted that various aspects were not covered in the bill, saying it ignored the people who got dual nationality only to open bank accounts abroad for their businesses.

The amendment bill has also been opposed by the government-allied Awami National Party and some PPP leaders, including Senator Raza Rabbani.