–SC issues notices to 147 federal officials and 291 others who have hidden their spouses’ dual nationality from authorities
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) informed the Supreme Court on Monday that a total of 210 civil servants had concealed their dual nationality status.
FIA Director General Bashir Memon further told the three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar that 291 officers had concealed the dual nationality of their spouses and that the list includes seven foreign nationals who work for Pakistan’s civil service.
According to the report submitted to the court, a copy of which is available with Pakistan Today, 82 officials belong to Punjab, 34 to the Aviation Division, seven to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Science and Technology, three each to the Establishment Division, Maritime Affairs, CDA and Information and Broadcasting, two to the Commerce Division, one each to the National History and Literary, Petroleum Division, Housing and Works Division, Overseas Division, Power Division, Prime Minister Secretariat, Information Technology, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Foreign Affairs, NHS Division, Communication Divisions, Revenue Division (revenue), Defense Production, Finance Division, Industry and Production, NAB, Textile Division.
The report states that Samina Naz, Alia Nazar, Shair Muhammad, Afia Zameer Zia, Dr Mehdi Khan, Dr Nasreen Akhtar, Dr M Asif Saleem, Dr Tahira Hammed, Dr Muhammad Shiraz, Dr Nasir Ali Nawaz, Dr Muhammad Waseem, Dr Amjad, Dr Aysha Ibrahim, Dr Saliha Fatima, Fatima Waseem, Dr Aftaf Ahmed Alvi, Dr M Iqbal Sakoor, Dr Mishal Waheel, Dr Sajid Ali Doga, Dr Asif Mehmood Ahmed Qazi, Dr Asadur Rehman, Malik Haq Nawaz, Mian Muhammad Abbas, Kabab Ali, Fariqa Begum, Mrs Ishrat Nasreen Bokhari, Naseem Akhter, Afiaa Amjad, Ms Laeeqo Khalid Basra, Mrs Fakhra Sultana, Dr Muhammad Asaf Khan, Nasreeen Kausar, Mrs Kishwar Firdours, Fahad Anees, Muahmmad Anwar Javedm Amir Butt, Muahmmad Abbas Qamar, Muhammad Asad Khan Babar, Shah Nawaz Hassan, Dr Zaheer Ahmed, Dr Rizwan Ahmed, Mrs Hina Nadeem, Shurjeel Murtaza, Abid Javed, Ms Myra Jaffery, Farhan Zaheer, Hassan Muhammad Khalid, Naushhen Fayyaz, Farida Nazir, Dr Annsi Aurangzeb, Dr Tayyiba Ikram, Dr Adnan Salim Malik, Dr Muhammad Mugese Amin, Dr Iram Chaudhary, Dr Farkhanda Hafeez, Dr Syed Suleman A Shah, Dr Ashma khan, Saman Sagheer, Dr Bushra Rozzaque, Lubna Farooq, Shumalia Rashid, Prof Muahmmad Tariq, Dr Goher Ali Khan, Dr Ayesha Usman, Dr Saima Yousaf Shah, Dr Khurram Shafique Khan, Dr Tariq A Bangish, Dr Aamir Latif, Dr Ghulam Sarwar, Amjad Farooq Lilla, Kashif Aziz Ahmad, Dr Lubna Nasir, Dr Furqan Yaqub Pannu, Dr Muahmmad Zaheer Khan, Ghazia Khanum, Prof Azim Jahangir, Dr Shafiq Cheema, Dr Khurshid Shah, Dr Arslan, Muhammad Numan Akram, Dr Humera Rizwan, Dr Tabassum Aziz from different departments of Punjab hold Canadian, US and UK nationalities.
In addition to this, Saeeda Hassain, Tausif Shahid, Sajidullah Khan, Tariq N Alvi, Ali Hassan Yazdani, Arshad Ali Hassan Jan, Adnan Andilib, Muhammad Masih, Faiz Ahmed, Shamshad Agha, Ather Inam Malik, Farah Hussain, Ali Asghar Shah, Nadeem Zafar Khan, Muhammad Afzal Khan, Muhammad Mubeen, Nehal A Siddique, Imtaiz Ahmed Memon, Kamal Zaheer, Noman Iqbal Bajwa, Faraz Khalid, Raheel Ahmed, Muhammad Ali from the Aviation Division also kept the nationality of either the US, UK or Canada.
Similarly, Nabah Ali Saad (UK), Kamram Saeed Hashmi (US), Tahir Aziz Khan (UK), Mr Shahzada Junaid Shareef (Canada), Dr Jaleel Akhtar (Canada), Dr M Numan (Malaysia) and Naheed Anwar (UK) from Science Technology as well as Dr Nayyar Jamal, Dr Fayyaz Ali, Dr Sabina Aziz, Dr Zakia Samad, Dr Rashid Khan from CS KP and Hassan Ali Khan (US) from the KP IT Board hold foreign nationalities, the report indicates.
The report states further that Jan M (UK), Tariq Hussain Naizi (Canada), Saima Ali (UK) from Establishment Division, M Ashraf (Canada), Sultan Ijazul Hasan (UK), Syed Salam Hussain Rizvi (UK) form Maritime Affairs, Imtaiz Ahmed (Canada), Ejaz Ahmed Butt (UK) and M Hammad Ahmad (UK) from the Information and Broadcasting, and Dr Farha Noor (UK), Najma Tariq (UK) and Dr Syeda Rashisda Batool (Canada) from CDA hold other nationalities.
Two officers of Commerce, Dr Zafarullah and Imran Mahmood also hold nationalities of the UK and New Zealand, respectively.
Among other officers are Salim Baz Khan (US) from Petroleum, Syed Nouman Hasan (Italy) from Information Technology, Ms Humera Khurram Khan (Canada) of Housing and Works Division, Tahir Ahmed Bukhari (US) from Overseas Division, Syed Abid Hussain Rizvi (US) from Power Division, M Wishaq (US) from the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Syed M Mazahir (Cananda) from Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Nadir Chaudhari (UK) from Foreign Affairs, Rashid Mustafa (Canada) from National History and Literary, Dr Sajjad Ahmad Khan (Russia) from the NHS division, M Jamil (Canada) from Communication Divisions, Iram Shabbir, Samad Khan (UK) from Revenue Division (revenue), Arshad Mahmood (Canada) Defense Production, Syed Naveed Bukhari (UK) from Balochistan, Adnan Mehmood (Norway) from NAB, Ms Mina Kharal (Germany) from Textile Division, Syed Ali Moazzam (Canada) from Finance Division, Rana Waqar Shabbir (UK) from Finance Division and Asiyeh Kashnay (US) from Industry and Production, the report revealed.
The SC subsequently ordered the issuance of notices to 147 officials of the federal government who had concealed their dual nationality, six who are foreign nationals and 291 who had hidden their wives’ dual nationality.
The court has also sought legal assistance from the attorney general of Pakistan regarding the holding of dual nationality by civil servants.
Earlier this month, a report compiled by the Establishment Division revealed that a total of 213 government officers serving in various ministries, divisions, provincial departments and autonomous bodies hold dual nationalities.
The report further said that around 127 of these officers are currently working in attached departments and autonomous organisations, and around 42 officers are currently working with the provincial governments.
The report that was presented to the SC revealed that 20 such officers are working with the Azad Kashmir government.
The SC took up a suo motu case related to dual national officers in pay scales 17-22.
The apex court had on Jan 17 sought details of the officers with dual nationality serving in federal and provincial governments. Establishment Division Secretary Maroof Afzal was appointed a coordinator for the collection of information.
There is no specific law barring dual nationals from serving in government departments, but the court believes that maintaining allegiance to a foreign country could constitute a conflict of interest. The apex court rulings suggest that it could call for legislation in this respect.