PHOTO: APP
In 2016, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Shamas-un-Nisa asked the government about the names of judges of superior courts having dual nationalities.
On Wednesday last, Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid in his written response said, “Despite repeated requests, information is still awaited from the Supreme Court, Lahore High Court and Sindh High Court.”
In his response, the law minister further said there were no judges with dual nationalities in Peshawar High Court, Balochistan High Court, Islamabad High Court and Federal Shariat Court, according to the information provided by the registrars of these superior courts in response to the said question.
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It’s not the first time. The same question with similar response was also tabled before the house on March 6, 2017 –the first day of the ongoing 40th session of the National Assembly.
At that time, while answering the question on the floor of the house, the law minister had expressed ‘inability’ to get the required information from superior courts.
“Not only repeated reminders have been sent to the registrar offices of these superior courts but also telephone calls were made to get the requisite information. But, it has not been provided yet,” Hamid had informed the legislators on March 6.
“We cannot take any coercive measure against them to get the required information,” he added.
This question has been asked in the Senate and National Assembly but no detailed reply had been provided.
The matter of fact is neither the Constitution nor the code of conduct for superior courts judges places a bar on them for having dual nationality – unlike the parliamentarians and armed forces’ officers.
In 2014, a senator asked the government this question. But, the superior courts did not bother to answer. Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq had informed the Senate at that time that the Ministry of Law had written letters to the superior judiciary seeking names but ‘to no avail’.
Upper house proceedings: Senators seek details on judges’ dual nationalities
On February 4, 2014 the Senate unanimously passed a resolution asking the government to publish names of those judges of the superior judiciary who held dual citizenships and the then Senate chairman Nayyar Bokhari gave two months’ time for its implementation. PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar moved the said resolution as well.
Later, seeing the situation, two PPP senators – Sughra Imam (retired in March 2015) and Raza Rabbani – moved a constitutional amendment bill – The Constitution (22nd Amendment) Act – in the Senate seeking a ban on dual nationals to be judges in superior courts through an amendment to Article 177.
On February 19, 2015, the Senate Committee on Law and Justice had approved the draft of the bill.
“The bill was approved by the committee but we did not bring it up in the house because PPP did not have the two-thirds majority required to pass it. So, it crossed the committee stage but did not reach the plenary stage,” Babar informed The Express Tribune.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 18th, 2017.
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