Dual nationality: Spurned by NA, ECP to verify citizenship status on its own

Fakhruddin G Ebrahim says commission will directly contact foreign embassies to ascertain facts.

ISLAMABAD: After the National Assembly refused to get fresh declarations from lawmakers stating they do not hold dual nationality, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to take it on itself to verify the statuses, Express News reported on Wednesday.

Vowing to continue with the court orders that tasked the ECP to get fresh declarations from every member within two weeks, Chief ECP Fakhruddin G Ebrahim said that the commission will directly contact foreign embassies to ascertain facts.

Ebrahim also expressed disappointment over parliament’s refusal to assist the ECP in this regard.

The ECP chief added that the interior ministry, foreign ministry and overseas ministry have also not responded to the letters written to them seeking fresh declarations.

Dozens of lawmakers in the current assemblies are believed to hold dual citizenship. Last week, the supreme court disqualified as many as 11 lawmakers for holding dual nationality.

Court orders

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.