On Monday, Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik became the latest casualty in the dual-citizenship case and his membership of the Senate was revoked by the Supreme Court, two weeks after the same happened to former parliamentarian Farahnaz Ispahani.
While the 14 elected members of the parliament and the provincial assemblies have been issued notices by the apex court, they have until June 13 to submit documents showing their singular citizenship of Pakistan in order to hold on to their public offices.
Some of the ministers embroiled in the case have already denounced claims of their dual citizenship and have even vowed to file for damages against the petitioners.
While the fate of these public office holders hangs in the balance, the question remains if holding the citizenship of another country, while serving the nation, really questions the official’s fidelity?
Should factors such as the official’s history as a public office holder or political leader not be considered as measures of their fidelity to the nation?
Is it fair to strip them of their seats in the parliament or the provincial assemblies?
Dawn.com invites its readers to share their opinion and suggestions…
Does President Zardari have dual citizenship????
Another disgusting decision by the SC. Why should dual nationality disqualify a citizen of Pakistan? Do we forget about all the money that ex-pats send to Pakisan from all over the world, many of them have dual nationalities. Why doesn’t SC ban all the remittance from other countries. Money certainly can give ex-pats lot of clouts so we should ban it too. No, SC wont do it because this pays for their outlandish salaries.
Obviously, Mr. Malik wants to have best of both worlds.
Well,
It’s in the best interest of Pakistan to have only one nationality (NOT DUAL CITIZENSHIP) for any office holders period. It will stop corruption at least. All political office holder must disclose their assets abroad, it will help stop corruption
“Is it fair to strip them of their seats in the parliament or the provincial assemblies?”
Country is run by rule book, so without doubt rule must be followed.
“Should factors such as the official’s history as a public office holder or political leader not be considered as measures of their fidelity to the nation?”
Again, countries cannot be run on emotions, but by constitution. Who will evaluate, give certificate & on what basis? An office who would be authorize for such purpose, would become victim of allegations of partiality very easily, X would say this (-ve) is not consider, Y would have its own perception. Character certificate can be part of criteria but cannot be only thing of evaluation of eligibility.
“While the fate of these public office holders hangs in the balance, the question remains if holding the citizenship of another country, while serving the nation, really questions the official’s fidelity?”
There is no doubt that conflict of interest effect decision making. Even a small shopkeeper would manipulate because of conflict of interest and when its powerful position, it’s not just conflict of interest but border reason for favor.
Most of the people avoid paying taxes by all means… Don’t they love their country? – Everyone love it’s country but when it comes to conflict of interest, things gets change, even at smaller level. So character certificate can not be the reason of a decision but the rule book.
specially in Pakistan with all the corruption, holding a dual nationality ……..makes one very susceptible to fill up their bank balances abroad & finally when & if leave their office: by then they have accumulated enough to run away with all the loot…….. I salute the judges who took this bold decision…..BRAVO
I totally agree!
If Saddam, Gaddafi and Mubarak had dual nationalities they would have been enjoying their billions right now in their adopted countries. Ministers should know that there is no escape if they indulge in corruption. No dual citizen should be allowed to hold public office.
For someone like Rehman Malik dual citizenship is a secondary issue, his track record should be enough to judge his ‘fidelity’ or otherwise! He remains a convicted fellow, who is continuing in office through presidential pardon, by virtue of the great beneficiary system of our country!
Every often there is a problem/issue related to constitution of 1973 and in recent column of shamshad ahmed ex federal sec has noted that the legality of the 1973 dastoor was in question.we need to make a new one.
HA HA HA,
Look at the faces of these voltures , they are in a trap of their own doings. They can play
around with constitution of Pakistan but not of another country. Try if you get back your citizenship once
renounce. Mr. Malik!
dual citizenship and in a govt. this show how much they are honest with their country. dual or not, he has not served much at his post anyways, and when he said he cannot protect everyone, that was the final draw. someone should have replaced him long time ago. he has failed in his commitment badly. but then this whole govt. has been operating like this, I wont be surprised if they blame this on nawaz or imran group, that is all they can do. what a disgrace.
Why every one trying to punish honest and innocent dual national politicians(though they are few in numbers). but please dont mix them with corrupt politicians.
Secondly, if a pakistani got another nationality, does it mean he is no longer faithful to Pakistan? I am sorry Pakistani who are settled abroad are as faithful to the country as in the country.
If you compare dual national politicains with local ones you will find them less corrupt and they love the country more because we who live abroad miss our beloved country, its air , its soul, our people more then any body else in the coutnry.
Parliment should bring the changes to settle and let overseas Pakistani to vote and to serve the nation, as they way they serve whenever country needs either its Earthquake, Flood, War or Economical crisses…
I request to all my brothers and sisters, please dont punish us just because of some corrupt politicians. We are called overseas ‘PAKISTANI’, not Indian or Bangali. We are Pakistani no matter how long we live abroad. NEVER EVER DOUBT US!
There is un-necessary uproar over this issue.Overseas Pakistani community remain always a distinct group having their hearts and minds back in their motherland. They have been contributing to national economy by sending remittances back to home and supporting their families. They would come back to Pakistan to get married and would prefer to die there. Most of them have opted for citizenship of another country only to facilitate them to earn their livelihood and keep them lawful. Their choice is out of necessity not out of free will. Many Pakistani families, youth and unemployed skilled person have desire to go to overseas for the sake of better careers and economic opportunities but they would also like to maintain their relationship with the motherland. Therefore, we need to be generous and accomodative to overseas Pakistanis.
@Shahid Khan Sb, I absolutely agree with you, but we’re talking about a different breed of people; the corrupt breed who have ruined this country. This breed has corrupted every segment of our society; from judiciary to bureaucracy both civil and military. Education, religion, politician, journalism, media, business community.
Having dual nationality is no crime at all especially as Muslims if we believe in our faith, we know that death is an absolute truth and life after death is our believe and there; each one of us is accountable. A good or bad deed of atom’s weight would be accounted for. So our ultimate destiny is grave, multiple nationalities would not save us from death; and life after death is a truth which no one can deny.
Fair enough. You chose foeign nationality due to some reason.Now you want to serve your motherland.Fine .come back , leave the overseas nationality and serve.
Why you want to keep that similarly with the public office. Even a good company does not allow a dual employment.
Leave aside US , Canada & UK. Would Pakistan allow dual citizenship, if other country was India ? Certainly not. If the law forbids dual citizenship, then it must be followed or change the law.
Let us not confuse difference between ‘Green Card’ and Citizenship. A Green card is a permanent visa while Citizenship, you take an oath of loyalty to the cnstitution & flag of the country.
Is it fair to strip a person of his/her seat for dual citizenship? overseas Pakistanies are more loyal, it should be allowed, not allowed, banned, etc, etc, etc; but what everyone missed out is what Mr. G. Nabi mentioned; for Citizenship, you take an oath of “loyalty to the cnstitution & flag of the country.” So, please if someone can explain: Mr. X as Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, with dual nationality having taken oath of Loyality to the constitution and Flag of the UK or USA is having a crucial meeting with the Foreign Minister of the said country, which country’s interests he is going to protect?
If law of the land clearly disallows dual citizenship,then there is no place for ‘if’ and ‘but’. Abide by the law or change the law. Election Commission should have checked the status of each member of the senate or member of the parliament before they were elected. Mr.Rehman evidently was not forthcoming.
This question reminds me a famous quote by Socrates, “I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.” However, as mentioned in comments above, it is true that in a country like ours where morality lacks from the heights office and trickles down to the roots. Where highest court is ridiculed and everyone is trying to make best out of current political situation and uncertainty regarding the future of this country. In my opinion it will be better for the country to disallow people who have already took oath of allegiance to be loyal to another country.
How does sound silly and stupid to find out that our high commissions in Britain is British citizen, our Interior minister was so loyal to the country he adopted that they appointed him as an Honorary consulate general of some Niger!
Pakistani courts cannot bring back Hussain Haqqani, who renounced his green card after appointed as an ambassador to US; how can these spineless politicians brought back for accountability once they are out of power and out of country?
“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same” … This is the first couple of sentences of Oath of Allegiance that all immigrants have to take before becoming a citizen of US. Other countries require similar oaths. If you take this oath, how can you say that you are loyal to Pakistan specially in times of conflict with your new country. If you take this oath truthfully, it means you are loyal to US and can’t be trusted with Pakistani interests (if Pak interests conflict with US). If you took this oath just to get citizenship and not by heart, then you lied under oath and can’t be trusted either.
It’s an absolute must law and it should be followed. There is no point in debating it in parliament. If you want public office, lose all other nationalities. only then you will realize that this is the country you have to live in and if you make a mess of it, you will suffer and be accounted for as well. Can’t just screw up the whole country. make millions of dollars and start living in US, UK or other countries leaving your country burning.
Are you telling me that thousands of Pakistanis after taking an oath which is simply a bureaucratic formality no longer have any attachment or loyalty to Pakistan. How about people living in Pakistan who open each day listening to national anthem, our TV transmission start with this, our movies start with this and we all stand in respect, our parliament and court session start with word of God and national anthem and see loyal these people are to Pakistan, its people living in Pakistan who are responsible for the sorry state of Pakistan and not Pakistanis living abroad. Another absurd notion. People migrating to another countries mostly go there due to better their financial futures and not to hatch conspiracies against Pakistan. If that were the case then we wouldn’t be sending billions of dollars to Pakistan.
I understand t is the parliamentarians who started this issue. By raising it in the assembly.so let them taste their own shortsightedness and stupidity. They instructed embassies to stamp on people’s Pakistan passports that the passport holder has the nationality of another country and the country to be named. I find defacing the Pakistan passport like that an insult to the nation. No other country does that. They think they cam impose on others and get away themselves? This is only one nationality that has been disclosed, people of this ilk probably have at least a few more. I believe in reverse brain drain as beneficial to Pakistan.
I love what the supreme court has done. Each one of them needs to be made to confirm under oath that they have no other passports.
i do not think that SC has done anything great here either. They should have struck down this law as unconstitutional. Period.
How come a person holding dual nationality truthfully maintains loyalty with all the countries he / she holding nationality just review the oaths of the countries one has dual nationality you will find yourself the reason why one should not hold dual nationality. Yes it is fair to strip them of their seats in the parliament or the provincial assemblies and dual nationality should not be allowed for any one who want to be part of assemblies.
This is a two-faced question of general principal and the law of the land. Under the constitution of Pakistan, a person with a dual nationality is not permitted to be elected to any office unless he renounces other nationalities other than the Pakistan one. The debate for existing members of parliaments or government officials stops here. Anyone holding another nationality at the time of application or anytime during the period of holding the office has committed a perjury and deserves no mercy. Please get rid of the criminals in the high office.
Next is the question of the general principal. Perhaps, there is nothing wrong in allowing people with dual nationalities to hold office provided the integrity, honesty, commitment and merit of the individual is beyond doubt. Unfortunately, the country continues to appoint people with dubious loyalties to the Pakistani nation, low merit and sometimes with known links with outside intelligence agencies to the high offices and is beyond the comprehension of a common Pakistani. Nevertheless, a constitutional amendment must precede any move to appoint anyone to the office.
It’s a preposterous law and should be scrapped as soon as possible. What on earth is the Supreme Court is doing?
Your question is not clear. Do you seek feedback whether the law prohibiting dual nationalities for legislators is fair and should be amended or want views of readers if in their opinion the law was applied correctly.
If a law exists (right or wrong it may seem to anyone), it has to be applied across the board, especially on the lawmakers.
As regards fairness of the law; if somebody has opted for an another nationality, it seems a little strange that being a politician in Pakistan could be so important for that individual. If that person has a very strong deisre to serve the nation by entering politics, surrendering the seccond nationality should not be such as big sacrifice.
In a country where people have come in looted- sold and profiteered only to run back to the middle east or our colonial overlords being a Pakistani citizen is important. Just the way a leader who has not lived through the hardships of a common man can not see the difficulties of his or her nation why would a politician who has no vested interest beyond his stay care.
Shaukat Aziz left and is living a life in New York unaffected, Benazir was not struggling in UAE nor was Nawaz Sharif , Altaf Hussain and certainly not Musharaf. You live in Pakistan you serve it and you invest in it like the farmer invests in a fertile land for the next seasons crop not just show up for harvest season.
Very nice commnet.
100% agreed on your point. A person has no right to lead a country if he has taken oath to be loyal to another country.
Imran Khan
I don’t think it should matter. But the constitution is supreme just as in case of the president’s immunity. Constitutionally it’s illegal.