• Votes 6-1 in favour of amending Civil Servants Act of 1973
• Mover Noor Alam Khan demands parity with constitutional ban on MPs
• Cabinet Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal suggests judges should also be covered in the bill
• Final procedural vote deferred to Feb 16 pending premier’s review

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on Monday moved to bar bureaucrats from holding dual nationality, voting overwhelmingly in favour of a bill restricting civil servants’ citizenship status, though the committee chairman deferred a final procedural vote to allow for review by the prime minister.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat took up the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2024, moved by former Public Accounts Committee chairman Noor Alam Khan.

Khan, a JUI-F Member of the National Assembly, argued that because members of parliament and the armed forces are prohibited from holding dual citizenship, the bureaucracy should face identical restrictions to ensure uniform loyalty to the state.

Presently, Article 63 (1)(c) of the Constitution states: “A person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-i-Shoora (Parliament), if he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan, or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state.”

On the other hand, bureaucrats can be dual nationals. But, amendments have been proposed for a restriction on bureaucrats’ dual nationality.

The bill, seen by Dawn, says: “This private bill seeks amendment in Section 5 of the Civil Servants Act, 1973 with a view to lay down an enabling provision so that a civil servant holding dual nationality or citizenship of any foreign country shall not be entitled for appointment.”

Khan told the committee that equity must apply across state institutions. “And if this does not happen, parliamentarians should also be allowed to have dual citizenship,” Khan said, adding that “there is no dual national in the armed forces”.

During the discussion, PPP lawmaker Agha Rafiullah recalled that parliamentarians had been promptly unseated following a Supreme Court decision in a dual nationality case in the past.

PMLN’s Tahira Aurangzeb supported the argument by citing her own family’s compliance with the constitutional bar on legislators. She noted that her daughter, Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, “had to let go of her Australian citizenship to contest elections”.

Cabinet Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal recommended that the cases of bureaucrats who possessed dual citizenship by birth should be reviewed rather than issued a blanket ban. He further suggested that if restrictions are applied, judges should also be covered in the bill.

Khan expressed reservations regarding the suggestion to review specific cases, advocating instead for ending dual citizenship for the individuals concerned.

Committee Chairman Ibrar Ahmed requested that the government share data regarding the number of bureaucrats possessing dual citizenship by birth.

“Bureaucracy and judiciary, too, should not have individuals having dual nationality,” Ahmed said.

Eventually, six of the seven commit-tee members voted in favour of the bill and against bureaucrats retaining dual citizenship.

However, Ahmed advised voting on the measure again at a meeting scheduled for Feb 16.

He said a report on the matter would be sent to the prime minister and that the voting could be held again after taking stock of the premier’s view on the matter. The meeting ended with the commit-tee members agreeing to the chairman’s recommendation.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2026