The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice has deferred consideration on the bill on dual nationality of parliamentarians and has decided to consult the leader of the opposition and other political parties in this regard.
A meeting of the committee was held on Monday under the chairmanship of Senator Kazim Khan, which was attended by Law Minister Farooq Naik and members of the committee. It reviewed the bill presented by the law minister on allowing dual nationality holders to contest elections.
PML-N’s Raja Zafarul Haq said the bill was an important matter and would give birth to new disputes and a decision would have to be taken in the light of the 1973 constitution. He said under the constitution, dual nationality holder could not become president, prime minister, minister or even a member of parliament.
He suggested that the government should not show any haste and hold consultations with the opposition, adding that a middle way should be found. Haq said the PML-N supported the right to vote for overseas Pakistanis. Senator Kalsoom Parveen said they would oppose the bill that had been introduced to provide protection to a few people. She said it was not correct to amend the constitution for the sake of some people close to the high-ups.
Saifullah Magsi opposed the bill in its present form and demanded a ban on dual nationality holders in the armed forces, the judiciary and the bureaucracy. He however, argued that overseas Pakistanis should be given the right to vote. Senator Farogh Naseem said the loyalty of overseas Pakistanis could not be doubted. “There are seven to eight million overseas Pakistanis who are playing an important role in the development of the country and they cannot be denied the right to vote.”
PPP’s Senator Ahmad Hasan said overseas Pakistanis were patriotic and the issue needed to be resolved by taking the opposition into confidence.
Senator Zafar Ali Shah said amendments in the constitution would not be allowed just to provide protection to a select few. At this the law minister said there should be a process of consultation on the dual nationality bill.
Members of the PML-N in the committee suggested that it was not appropriate to restrict the dual nationality bill to the committee and consultations be held with leader of the opposition as well as with all the political parties inside and outside parliament. The members of the committee agreed to the proposal that consultations be held with parties in parliament but they could not agree on consultations with parties outside parliament.