ISLAMABAD, March 4: Attorney General Irfan Qadir told the Supreme Court on Monday that the grant of voting right to overseas Pakistanis in the coming general election was an uphill task.

“It is surely not an easy task prior to the coming elections,” the attorney general informed a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry that had taken up petitions of Chaudhry Nasir Iqbal and PTI chief Imran Khan seeking voting rights for Pakistanis living abroad.

Mr Qadir said over 1.66 million Pakistanis were living in Saudi Arabia alone for which 4,500 polling booths would have to be set up with four to five skilled people in each booth. The exercise would require about 2,000 people in polling stations and 1,000 ballot papers in each booth and not to mention a prior permission of the Saudi government to do so, the AG explained.

The gigantic task, he said, could be gauged from the fact that about 4.4 million Pakistanis were living abroad — 1.3 million in the UAE, 364,811 in the UK, 266,718 in Oman, 130,439 in the US, 94,215 in Kuwait, 89,000 in Canada, 79,000 in Bahrain, 71,359 in Qatar and 48,000 in Malaysia. There is no data about Pakistanis living in Afghanistan, Korea, Uzbekistan, etc.

The AG informed the court that he had presided over a meeting in his office to discuss different laws available on the subject, ideas and problems on the ground. It was attended by the director general of Election Commission, Dr Sher Afgan, Advocate Mian Rauf, the counsel for Chaudhry Nasir Iqbal, and other officials. It was the second such meeting on the subject.

The grant of voting rights to overseas Pakistanis, he said, would also create a similar right to be demanded by voters who are inside Pakistan but not in their constituencies because of jobs or other purposes. They would also have to be treated on a par with Pakistani expatriates.

“Would it not be possible to initiate a debate in the outgoing National Assembly so that they themselves develop a law because they have wisdom and experience to do this since they come through elections?” the chief justice asked.

He suggested that the AG should sit with Law Minister Farooq H. Naek and Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim to find a solution to the issue.

The AG agreed that parliament could take a decision on such matters and assured the court that he would try his level best to send the proposed legislation to the National Assembly for its consideration.

He sought time to discuss the matter with representatives of the government through the law minister. He said sincere efforts were being made to ensure that overseas Pakistanis were granted the right to vote in the coming elections.

The court adjourned the hearing to March 12.