Report sought on overseas Pakistanis’ right to vote

Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Rasaal Hasan Syed has sought a detailed report from the quarters concerned on the appropriate measures being taken to provide the right to vote to overseas Pakistanis.

The court also asked the deputy attorney general about releasing the amount required for the purpose.

Justice Rasaal was hearing a petition challenging the denial of voting rights to overseas Pakistanis.

The petitioner, Munir Ahmad, had made the ministry of law, the ministry of interior, the ministry of foreign affairs, the ministry of overseas Pakistanis, the ministry of information technology and telecommunication and the provincial government respondents.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was also made respondent through its secretary and National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).

During the hearing, representatives of Nadra told the court that Rs2.8 billion was required for the purpose.

The petitioner’s counsel Azhar Siddique told the court that the constitution did not discriminate between Pakistanis living overseas and resident Pakistanis, arguing the former were being deprived of their right to vote in violation of the constitution.

It is the federal government’s obligation to provide them with their basic right, he stressed.

He said there was a “failure of constitutional and statutory functionaries of the state”, primarily of the respondents, to perform their constitutional and statutory duties by protecting the fundamental rights of the ‘public at large especially the overseas Pakistanis, with respect to the right constitutionally granted to them as they were a part of the democratic process of the country.

He contended that the fundamental rights of every citizen of Pakistan are protected by the constitution.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan, in its many judgments, has recognised the right to vote as a fundamental right of the citizens.

“A citizen’s right to vote is not limited by the boundaries of his country due to the fact that no matter where one is, being a citizen of a state, he is entitled to act upon this right. Likewise, an overseas Pakistani’s right to vote is the same as a resident Pakistani’s right to vote,” he said.

He prayed the court to declare voting a fundamental and absolute right, notwithstanding the territorial boundaries of the state.

He further prayed the court to declare that the overseas Pakistanis had the right to cast vote not only in the federal and provincial electorate but the electorate of the local government also.