NADRA asked to decide Afghan boy’s citizenship plea as per law

IHC CJ says every child born in Pakistan has birthright to citizenship

ISLAMABAD:

Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah has said that a person born in Pakistan only required a birth certificate to be called a Pakistani and citizenship was his or her right.

He noted that Pakistan is one of the 30 countries that automatically grant citizenship to those born on its soil subject to conditions explicitly stated in the relevant law. This right, he stressed, was based on the principle of ‘jus soli’ or the law of the soil.

The IHC chief justice said this in a written order after hearing a plea of a 24-year-old Afghan boy, who was born in Pakistan, seeking Pakistani citizenship.

The IHC chief justice observed that many nations have changed their respective laws including France in 1993 and the United Kingdom in 1983. However, Pakistan has not changed nor reformed section 4 of the Act of 1951.

“The birthright citizenship, therefore, cannot be denied in Pakistan unless the exemptions explicitly described under the Act of 1951 are attracted,” the IHC chief justice said.

“Just like laws in countries such as America and others, our law is also bound to grant citizenship to every child born here,” the IHC chief justice said.

Subsequently, the court observed that while processing the application of the petitioner are expected to consider the principles and law highlighted in the verdict of Hafiz Hamdullah’s case.

The court, while ruling on the plea of the Afghan national, has directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to keep this principle in mind while adjudicating the case. The court also ordered the interior ministry to complete the legal process in the case and submit a report by October 28.

The petitioner’s lawyer, Umer Ijaz Gilani, earlier told the court that his client spent 24 years in Pakistan without any citizenship.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2022.