122 election candidates hold dual nationalities

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday released a report listing the names of the election candidates who hold dual nationalities.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) examined the credentials of the candidates for the upcoming general elections and found that 122 candidates hold the nationality of another country alongside their Pakistani nationality.

A total of 21,482 candidates filed their nomination papers for the national and provincial assemblies and 122 of them were identified to be dual nationals and 2,178 were declared to be defaulters.

According to the report, anomalies were found in 49 nomination papers filed for the National Assembly, 53 for the Punjab Assembly, 11 for the Sindh Assembly, eight for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and one for the Balochistan Assembly.

At least 60 candidates who were identified by the ECP hold the nationality of United Kingdom, 26 held the nationality of the United States, 24 held the nationality of Canada, three held the nationality of Ireland and two held the nationality of Belgium.

DUAL NATIONALS CONTESTING FOR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SEATS:

The dual nationals among the candidates for National Assembly seats include Faisal Vawda (NA-249), Mohammad Gulfam (NA-13), Mohammad Tariq (NA-18), Tufail Mohammad (NA-19), Arsallah Khan Hoti (NA-21), Siraj Mohammad (NA-25), Arshad Bashir (NA-32), Hashim Inamullah Khan (NA-36), Mohammad Saleem (NA-40), Ali Begum Khan (NA-46), Farhana Qamar (NA-53), Chaudhry Mohammad Khursheed Zaman (NA-58), Mohammad Azhar Aslam (NA-60), Nadeem Khadim (NA-66), Bilal Azhar (NA-66), Mohammad Akram (NA-73), Mohammad Akbar Chaudhry (NA-74), Ali Zahid (NA-74), Naveed Anwar Bhinder (NA-81), Mohammad Naveed (NA-86), Malik Mohammad Wazir (NA-87), Aqeel Ahmed (NA-102), Zahid Akram (NA-14 and 128), Nasira Sangal (NA-137 & NA-138), Ghulam Mujtaba Rai (NA-141), Sumera Ahsan (NA-141), Umair Anwar (NA-142), Jahan Ara Chaudhry (NA-143), Ahmad Yar Haraj (NA-151), Liaquat Ali Khan (NA-158), Tehmina Shafique Ahmed (NA-182), Nadir Leghari (NA-204), Sardar Mohammad Usman Almani Baloch (NA-211), Babar Chandio (NA-225), Arshad Naeem Khan (NA-227), Zafar Ali Khan (NA-227), Sabir Hussain (NA-244), Habib Shaikh (NA-246) and Fauzia Danial Kasuri (NA-247).

It is pertinent to mention that in a recent tweet, Fauzia Kasuri clarified that she relinquished her US citizenship on March 22, 2013.

CANDIDATES FOR PUNJAB ASSEMBLY:

On the list those fighting seats in Punjab Assembly include Jahangir Khanzada (PP-2), Razik Dad Khan (PP-5), Mohammad Haroon Kamal Hashmi (PP-7), Shakila Shaukat (PP-8 and 9), Chaudhry Mohammed Ishtiaq (PP-8), Chaudhry Mohammad Khurshid Zaman (PP-8), Lal Hussain (PP-26), Tauseef Raza Hussain (PP-26), Nadeem Khadim (PP-26), Zafar Iqbal (PP-26), Bilal Azhar (PP-26), Syed Amir Hamza Peerzada (PP-26), Khurshid Alam Chaudhry (PP-28), Ali Raza Warraich (PP-30), Choudhry Naeem Akhtar (PP-33),Mohammad Akram (PP-36), Mohammad Akhlaq (PP-36), Tariq Subhani (PP-38), Mohammad Akbar (PP-40),Babar Siddique (PP-46), Najam Hussain Cheema (PP-53), Naveed Anwar Bhinder (PP-59), Baasima Chaudhry (PP-66), Amir Abdullah Khan (PP-87), Mohammad Ramzan (PP-120), Mohammad Tariq (PP-131), Naveed Akhtar Khan (PP-139), Imtiaz Mehmood (PP-152), Chaudhry Mohammad Aatif (PP-159 and 167), Imtiaz Mehmood (PP-166), Abrar Hussain (PP-173), Nasira Sangal (PP-175), Mohammad Javed (PP-183), Jahan Ara Chaudhry (PP-184), Ahmad Yar Hiraj (PP-205), Liaquat Ali Khan (PP-221), Mohammad Afzal Karim (PP-231), Mohammad Ali Langrial (PP-232), Mohammad Sohail Wahid (PP-260), Masud Majeed Khan (PP-262) and Sardar Arslan H Leghari (PP-265).

CANDIDATES FOR SINDH ASSEMBLY:

The 11 candidates for the Sindh assembly, including former chief minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah (PS-80), Nadir Akmal Khan Leghari (PS-19), Sardar Mohammad Usman Almani Baloch (PS-33 and 34), Ameeruddin Abro (PS-58), Babar Chandio (PS-63, 64 and 67), Zafar Ali Rajput (PS-67), Habib Shaikh (PS-109) and Syed Imran Ali Shah (PS-129).

CANDIDATES FOR KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA ASSEMBLY:

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, eight candidates, including Habibul Mukhtar (PK-13), Zulfikar Khan Tanoli (PK-33), Mohammad Qasim Shah (PK-42), Mohammad Farooq Khan (PK-45), Arsallah Khan Hoti (PK-52), Ziaullah Khan (PK-6), Zahid Khan (PK-63) and Hisham Inamullah Khan (PK-92).

CANDIDATE FOR BALOCHISTAN ASSEMBLY:

Only a single candidate for Balochistan Assembly named Asim Ali Shah (PB-26) was identified as a dual national in the FIA report.