Expats should be facilitated on priority, SC observes in voting rights' case

Apex court sets aside objections on Imran's plea; directs registrar to fix case for hearing before appropriate bench

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court (SC) observed on Wednesday that overseas Pakistanis bring in foreign exchange to the country and must be facilitated on a priority basis.

Setting aside the objections on former premier Imran Khan's overseas Pakistanis' voting rights plea, the bench, comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, ordered the registrar’s office to fix the case for early hearing before the appropriate bench.

The apex court observed that the overseas Pakistanis' right to vote appeared to be a matter of public interest and a fundamental human right, adding that the court has delivered several decisions related to the rights of expats.

Justice Naqvi questioned if the present assembly was empowered enough to make amendments regarding the fundamental rights of the expats, considering the insufficient number of members in the assembly.

Read Voting right for expats only after pilot experiment

Justice Ahsan, on the other hand, observed that “a billion dollars are being demanded from financial institutions and other countries, while expats send $30 billion annually. And they are being told that they cannot vote.”

"Overseas Pakistanis are told that they should fly back to the country if they want to vote," he added.

Justice Naqvi was also of the opinion that overseas Pakistanis send in $30 billion without any conditions. "The whole world uses modern devices, for every little thing. Why can't they be used for voting?" he asked.

Referencing the claims of the right being curtailed due to fear of rigging, he added that fake votes can easily be polled while voting from within the country as well.

On August 23, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had said that the right to vote for overseas Pakistanis was curtailed because there was no proper method for it and there were fears of 90 percent rigging. “Our suggestion was to give proper representation to overseas Pakistanis,” he said.