Rehman Malik submits nomination papers for Senate seat

Showing renunciation certificate from UK's border agency, Malik assured that he is only a Pakistani citizen now. PHOTO: SANA/ FILE

KARACHI: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik submitted nomination papers for a senate seat on Friday under the supervision of provincial election commissioner of Sindh, Express News reported.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had called on members of the provincial assembly of Sindh to nominate a new candidate for the Senate from the province after the seat was vacated by Malik, following his resignation.

The polling for the seat will be held on August 8, 2012.

Showing the renunciation certificate from the United Kingdom’s border agency, Malik gave his assurance that he is only a Pakistani citizen now and does not hold any other nationality. Stressing his statement, he showed his Pakistani national identity card to the media.

The documents will be scrutinised on 23 and 24 July, while candidates can withdraw their nomination papers by July 30, 2012.

Speaking to the media after submitting his documents, Malik said that he has always supported and followed the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

He said that he would not comment on the documents he submitted because they were under scrutiny. The minister said that the documents could be obtained by anyone to see as he had publicised them.

Malik said, “The basic reason for my resignation was that for many days [Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief] Nawaz Sharif had been saying that dual nationality came because of me and that their party will not support the dual nationality law. So, I told him that Pakistanis living abroad who send in billions of dollars to Pakistan should not be victimised and I decided to pull out myself from this issue.”

He said that now the PML-N leaders should vote in favour of dual nationality, because it’s “their right”. “Those who were born in Pakistan and moved out of the country for livelihood or securing their children’s future should be supported to retain their dual nationality – not of all countries, but only those Pakistan is in agreement with according to the 1951 citizenship certificate.”

“The one who had allegedly stirred this dilemma had quit his membership over this.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelt the word scrutinised as strutinised.