Clearing misconceptions: ‘Overseas Pakistanis have the right to vote’

Commission received some 3,000 complaints over one year

LAHORE:

The impression that Pakistanis resident overseas don’t have the right to vote isn’t correct, Overseas Pakistanis’ Commission (OPC) Commissioner Afzaal Bhatti has told The Express Tribune.

All such Pakistanis and dual citizens can cast their vote. But, to do so, they have to come to Pakistan, he said. The commissioner said only four countries allowed their citizens to vote if they were not present in the states. “A day will come when Pakistan will also be able to do so but we don’t have such a facility for some nine million Pakistanis based abroad,” he said. Bhatti said the OPC was doing its best to address grievances of overseas Pakistanis.

“In a period of one year, the OPC received some 3,000 complaints and 55 per cent of them have been addressed,” the commissioner said. Bhatti said majority of the complaints had been filed at the online complaint portal at the commission’s website (www.opc.punjab.gov.pk) and were related to property.

“Most of complainants are Pakistanis living in the United States, the United Kingdom and the Middle East. In some cases, they haven’t gotten the possession of their plots after paying the requisite instalments. In others, the land mafia takes control of their land or some relatives living at their properties refuse to vacate them when asked. We have addressed a number of complaints regarding possession of plots and properties after authenticating the facts,” he said.

The commissioner said most complaints came from Lahore district. “Some 1,100 complaints out of a total of 3,000 from the Punjab come from Lahore. The remaining complaints are related to police and abduction, among others. Recently, an OPC worked on a case and recovered Rs50 million paid to a gang as ransom by an overseas Pakistani,” Bhatti said.

He said the OPC had committees across the province’s 36 districts. Bhatti said police, district officials and overseas Pakistanis were members of the committees. He said representatives of several federal public departments were also represented across the committees.

“Overseas Pakistanis resident in the Middle East had for long been demanding that their children be allowed to apply for seats reserved for foreign students across the province’s medical colleges. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif approved this courtesy the OPC’s efforts,” Bhatti said. He said the NADRA used to issue CNICs of overseas Pakistanis for a 10-year period. Bhatti said the PPP government had reduced this to a seven-year period. Bhatti said the duration had been raised back to the original period following the receipt of a complaint to this effect.

“The chief minister has even asked if a quota has been reserved for overseas Pakistanis in the Aashiana Housing Scheme,” he said.  Bhatti said the commission had been collaborating with various professional associations across countries like the US and the UK. He said overseas Pakistanis could use their services through the internet. “Telemedicine is already in vogue across the world,” Bhatti said.

The commissioner urged overseas Pakistanis to desist from granting general power of attorney to their relatives. “If given, it should be qualified.  Otherwise, we cannot do anything to assist them if their relatives sell their properties without obtaining their consent,” Bhatti said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2016.