It seems the federal government is in no mood to comply with the order of the Supreme Court in the dual nationality holders case, as the National Assembly Secretariat on Tuesday refused to follow the Election Commission of Pakistan’s order to get new declaration forms filled from legislators regarding their nationalities.
In pursuance of the Supreme Court order dated September 20 in the dual nationality case, the ECP wrote letters to the secretaries of NA, Senate and the provincial assemblies on September 24, directing them to take fresh undertakings from lawmakers about their nationalities.
However, the NA Secretariat on Tuesday refused to comply with the ECP order and informed the commission that it was not the responsibility of the NA Secretariat to take oath from parliamentarians.
A source in the ECP confirmed that the commission had received a reply from the NA Secretariat, in which it refused to cooperate with the ECP vis-à-vis taking oath from parliamentarians. According to the constitution of Pakistan, dual nationality holders cannot become lawmakers, but some have sneaked into the assemblies as 11 of them were recently disqualified by the order of apex court.
The court verdict also directed the ECP to take fresh oath from lawmakers to ascertain their nationalities.
Article 63(I) C of the constitution of Pakistan reads: “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 acquire the citizenship of foreign state.”
A senior official of the ECP told Pakistan Today that under Article 220, all federating units including the National Assembly, provincial assemblies and Senate of Pakistan are bound to comply with the ECP order and if parliamentarians do not submit oath as directed by the ECP, it can summon the person concerned.
Another senior official of the ECP, wishing not to be named, said in this particular case, the ECP was following directives of the Supreme Court and if any government department did not follow the ECP’s directives, the Supreme Court could initiate contempt of court proceedings against the person responsible.
Meanwhile, the ECP on Tuesday again directed all members of the National Assembly, provincial assemblies and Senate to submit undertaking about their nationalities by October 9, 2012.
“All parliamentarians and members of the provincial assemblies are once again reminded to submit fresh declaration on oath that they are not disqualified under Article 63(1)(c) of the constitution,” said a hand out issued by the ECP.
The hand out said the ECP was taking the step in the pursuance of Supreme Court order dated September 20,2012 in dual nationality case.
Battle lines drawn over dual nationality issue
