The parliamentarians from both treasury and opposition benches including former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday demanded the disqualification of all dual nationality holder members of the Parliament.
Speaking on a point of order, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that having dual nationality by members of the Parliament was an open violation of Article 63-1 (C). “When the matter of disqualification of parliamentarians on having dual nationality was being debated in National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice, the officials of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) told the parliamentary body that it was already present in the Constitution,” he said, asking the chair to give ruling on the issue.
Qureshi said that the ECP could not initiate action against dual nationality holder parliamentarians. Supporting Qureshi’s stance, Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) Member National Assembly (MNA) Rana Nazir said that it was obligation of the speaker of National Assembly to move cases of all dual nationality holder MNAs to the ECP. “It is greater issue than that of fake degrees as it is blatant violation of the constitution of Pakistan,” he said. Ameer Muqam of the Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid (PML-Q) also sought punishment for those parliamentarians who succeeded in getting elected despite possessing dual nationality. He demanded of the speaker to move references against all such MNAs to the ECP. PML-Q MNA Raza Hayat Hirraj also asked the speaker to move references against such MNAs to the ECP. “Article 63 1 (C) says that a person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), if he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan, or acquires the citizenship of a foreign State … I want ruling of the chair on the issue,” Hirraj said.
