Dual nationalities: New law to put bar on bureaucrats

Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill will be tabled on next private members’ day.

ISLAMABAD:

The government may bar senior bureaucrats from holding dual nationalities as the upper house of parliament is all set to pass a bill seeking amendments to the 1973 Civil Servants Act.

A Senate panel has unanimously approved the bill called ‘The Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2013’.  Moved by Senator Ilyas Bilour of the Awami National Party, the bill has been welcomed by lawmakers and civil servants alike.



Last week the bill was referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Capital Administration and Development Division for further deliberations.

“The bill seeks amendment in Section 9 (1) of The Civil Servants Act, 1973 with a view to lay down an enabling provision so that civil servants having dual nationalities or citizenship of any foreign country shall not be entitled to promotion to the post in BSP-20 or equivalent and above,” reads the proposed draft of the bill which will be tabled in the Senate on next private members’ day.

The federal cabinet had taken up the issue in July under case No 140/13/2013 to ensure “safeguarding strategic national interest through necessary amendments to the Civil Servants Acts, 1973,” the draft added.



The existing provision of Section 9 of the Civil Servants Act, 1973, states, “A civil servant possessing such minimum qualifications as may be prescribed shall be eligible for promotion to a higher post for the time being resaved under rules for departmental promotion in the service or cadre to which he belongs.”

The bill on the other hand proposes an addition to this section. It states that a civil servant holding dual nationalities or citizenship of any foreign country shall not be entitled to promotion to the post in BPS-20 or equivalent and above.

Being a dual national is not a criminal offence. Pakistanis are allowed to hold dual nationalities under the Citizenship Act of 1951, whether in government services or other states.



Government servants are also permitted to marry foreign nationals with prior permission from the government under the Government Servants (Marriage with Foreign Nationals) Rules, 1962.

Senator Ilyas Bilour confirmed that there was a consensus among parties to bar senior civil servants from holding dual nationalities. If passed by both the houses, the bill is expected to trigger a debate over hundreds of civil servants holding dual nationalities, he added.

“Senior civil bureaucracy must have their stakes in the country in which they hold positions of power, privilege and trust,” Bilour added. “There is a need to ensure loyalty of senior bureaucrats, especially officers holding offices of BPS-20 or above.”

“It’s a fine piece of legislation. It’ll force policymakers either to work in Pakistan or the country they adopted,” observed a retired federal secretary Tasneem Noorani. He added that there should also be a law which bars legislators and civil servants from owning properties abroad.

Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Syeda Sughra Imam, who is also a member of the committee, also endorsed the bill. “People such as lawmakers and civil servants, who are beneficiaries and entrusted with making policies, should not hold dual nationalities. Their loyalty to their homeland must be undivided.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2013.