SC seeks list of federal officers with dual nationalities

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan on Wednesday asked the federal departments to submit lists of all officers holding dual nationalities within 15 days.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar said that the relevant law will be examined and that presently they are just collecting data of all officers.

The secretary establishment told the court that only seven officers have been identified with dual nationality, however, responses from 20 departments are still awaited.

The court also asked the chief secretary to submit names of all officers of grade 17 and above who have dual nationalities. The CJP added that parliamentarians who were holding dual nationality have already been disqualified.

One Lahore High Court judge, Justice Jawwad Hassan, and one Sindh High Court judge, KK Agha have dual nationalities by birth.

Two judges in Punjab– Ashfaq Ahmad Rana and Farkhanda Arshad, along with a few lower court judiciary judges, also have dual nationality.

Rashda Asad in Sindh and Farukh Ataullah Khan in KP are dual nationals.

In January, the CJP directed registrars of all the five courts and the Establishment Division secretary to submit reports in this regard.

The Establishment Division secretary was asked to submit a list of Grade -17 to Grade-22 officers having dual citizenship. However, no orders have been issued for civil servants in Grade-16 and below. This is for the first time that the apex court has taken suo moto notice about the dual citizenship of civil servants as no attention was given to the issue in the past.

However, many parliamentarians were disqualified in the last few years for keeping dual citizenship.  It is reported that many civil servants, particularly those who remained posted abroad have acquired dual citizenship.

Reports have been frequently appearing in the media about judges and officials having dual citizenship. Reports say that there are thousands of civil servants between Grade 17 and 22, mostly having nationalities of US, UK and Canada as well.