More than 47,000 officers failed to disclose their govt service on passport, FIA tells SC

Court was informed that 655 officials have disclosed their dual nationality

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Thursday told the top court that 47,561 government officers failed to declare their government service on their passport.

The apex court's three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, was also informed that 655 officials have disclosed their dual nationality.



The director general of FIA elaborated that the agency had collected the data of 182,090 officers till March 18. The law-enforcement agency also submitted a supplementary report to the apex court.

The additional attorney general further informed the bench that data for another 1,000 officials has also been obtained and notices were also published in newspapers advising others to reveal their dual nationality.

According to DG FIA, they received data of more than 36,000 officers. While 655 government officials confessed to holding dual nationality, 152 kept it hidden.



Furthermore, 665 officers are married to women who possess dual nationality and five to women who are foreign nationals. Five officials themselves, the top court was informed, are foreign nationals.

In March, a reported presented in SC by the FIA stated that as many as 758 government officials held dual nationality.

There is presently no restriction in the Civil Servants Act 1973, regarding possession of dual nationality, but there have been efforts by parliamentarians in 2011, 2012 and 2013 to amend the said act.



The Supreme Court had on January 17 taken a suo motu notice of the officers with dual nationalities serving in federal and provincial governments.



The apex court had also taken notice of dual nationalities following Senate polls and had temporarily stopped issuance of notifications for those Senators who were reported to possess dual nationality.