Dual nationality: NA snubs court order for fresh oath

Secretariat refuses to get declarations from lawmakers that they do not hold foreign citizenship.

ISLAMABAD: In a move that pits the legislature directly against the judiciary, parliament has declined to comply with a Supreme Court order to get fresh declarations from lawmakers that they do not hold dual nationality.

The National Assembly Secretariat, in a letter, has informed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that it would not get declarations on oath since there is no provision under their rules to obtain such a document, sources said.

The Senate secretariat has also prepared a similar letter which will be dispatched to the ECP shortly, sources added.

Following SC directives

The Supreme Court, on September 20, had disqualified 11 lawmakers for holding dual nationality.

Under article 63(1)(c), dual nationals cannot contest elections for parliament and provincial assemblies but the election commission, in the past, never verified this.

Dozens of lawmakers in the current assemblies are believed to be dual nationals. The court, in its order, had asked the ECP to get fresh declarations from every member within two weeks.

On the apex court directives, the ECP wrote to the secretaries of the two houses of parliament and the four provincial assemblies, seeking fresh declarations from the lawmakers affirming that they were not in possession of a foreign nationality.

The ECP also sent prescribed declaration forms to the secretaries of the assemblies on September 24, and asked them to get them signed by every member.

The forms had to be attested by oath commissioners before sending them back to the ECP. October 9 had been fixed as the last day for the completion of the process.

Unsuccessful attempts

The National Assembly secretariat, however, has declined to follow the directives in toto.

The ECP is now awaiting response from the provincial assemblies.

Earlier in August, the ECP had made an unsuccessful attempt, on its own, to get details of lawmakers holding dual nationality.

Back then too, the ministries of interior, foreign affairs and overseas Pakistanis did not bother responding to ECP’s request for details.

The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is in power in the centre and in Sindh, and is also an integral part of the ruling alliance in Balochistan, hence it can be expected that the two provincial legislatures will follow the centre’s lead. It will be interesting to see what the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assembly’s response will be – given that it is run by the Awami National Party, which is a an ally of the PPP, but has been at loggerheads with the ruling party in Sindh, and has taken an independent stand on the dual nationality issue. Also interesting will be the Punjab assembly’s response. Run by the central opposition, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Punjab assembly will need to see if it is willing to gain political points against the federal government by siding with the judiciary at the risk of exposing its own legislators – or if it will side with the PPP and its allies on this matter.

(Read: Punitive action)

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2012.