Dual nationality

LAHORE: According to a report, during a recent Senate session, Senator Farhatullah Babar told the house that he was receiving an answer to one of his questions, which had been asked three weeks ago. The question related to the number of judges who had dual nationality and whether any sitting Supreme Court judge was a dual national.

I, as a senior citizen of Pakistan, request under Article 19 of the Constitution, which gives right to information to citizens, that the Chief Justice of Pakistan kindly inform the nation if any judge in the superior judiciary is a dual national.

During the hearing of Dr Tahirul Qadri’s petition, the honourable Supreme Court told Mr Qadri that his foreign citizenship meant that he was not a genuine stakeholder in Pakistan’s affairs because his loyalty was at best divided. In that context, it would be in the public interest to know if any judge of the superior judiciary is a dual national. After all, the same standard should be applied to all institutions and politicians shouldn’t be singled out.

ST Hussain

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2013.