When allegiances clash: PPP decries ‘double standards’ in dual citizenship rule

If top lawyers, bureaucrats can be dual nationals, why not parliamentarians.

ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers from the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Sunday cried foul over the ‘double standards’ in the dual nationality rule, complaining that while bureaucrats and lawyers of the superior judges are allowed to hold two passports, parliamentarians are not.

The party’s legislators sought the support of members of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice regarding its proposed amendments to bar dual nationals from entering the bureaucracy as well as the superior judiciary.

“It is strange that parliamentarians cannot hold dual nationality, but dual nationals can possess high offices in Pakistan’s services and be appointed judges of the superior courts,” said Sughra Imam, one of the movers of the bill along with Senator Raza Rabbani.

Senator Rabbani told the Senate committee members last week that it is strange to expect an American citizen to be loyal to our state. The American oath of allegiance demands from a citizen to wage war for the interest of the country, he said. “It is time to decide how a person, under oath to serve American interests, can be loyal to Pakistan.”

Senator Kazim Hussain, the committee’s chairperson, said that becoming a parliamentarian is not a permanent job but still, a dual national cannot become a lawmaker. “Then how are persons of permanent status enjoying dual citizenship?” he asked during the meeting.

However, the law ministry’s senior adviser, Malik Hakim Khan, and the additional law secretary, Sardar Raza, said judges and bureaucrats could not be dismissed, because at the time of their appointment, there was no restriction on holding dual nationalities under the law.

Senator Rabbani argued that through PPP’s proposed amendment, judges and bureaucrats will be given appropriate time to renounce their citizenship of any other country. The proposed bill reads: ‘[…] a person in the services of Pakistan holding dual nationality or citizenship of a foreign country shall renounce the same within sixty days of the coming into force of the Constitution (Twenty-second Amendment) Act, 2013.” The same insertion is added in the bill for judges of the superior courts.

On February 4, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution asking the government to publish names of judges of the superior judiciary holding dual citizenships and Senate chairman Nayyar Bokhari gave two months for the list to be made public. Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq informed members that the law ministry had written letters to the superior judiciary seeking names of judges holding dual nationality, but to no avail.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2014.