Kamila Shamsie and the laws that could deprive Pakistani-Brits of citizenship

Author details the expanding use of such laws

Pakistani-British author Kamila Shamsie has written about the United Kingdom’s citizenship deprivation laws for the Guardian.

In 2003 the UK’s immigration laws changed such that naturalised British citizens could legally be deprived of citizenship if they were dual nationals.



A Pakistani woman’s British-born son, who possesses a Pakistan Origin Card (POC), is subject to be deprived of his citizenship under these laws depending on the language of the Pakistani government’s website – which changes between saying POC holders can acquire Pakistani passports and nothing at all on the matter.

Shamsie details the increasing use of British laws that strip citizenship unless they’re British born and without dual nationality under the rhetoric of the war on terror.

In 2013, 18 people were deprived of citizenship, in 2014, the number was 23 and by July 2017 the reported for that year had already crossed 40. This rise, of course, corresponded with an increase in the number of British citizens joining the militant Islamic State (IS).



The frightening use of this law, however, is to exclude people who have simply travelled to a country that the British government doesn’t want people travelling to. They are also mired in racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and fascism.

This article originally appeared in the Guardian.