— ‘We shed tears for Burma Muslims, but are not ready to provide rights to our citizens’
The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday turned down an appeal challenging the Peshawar High Court (PHC) order for awarding Pakistani nationality to residents of Mehmand Agency.
A three-member bench of SC, headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed, picked up the case challenging PHC’s decision – filed by two citizens Malik Abdul Rehman and Malik Fiaz. Justice Qazi Fize Esa asked the petitioners’ counsel whether the six thousands residents of Mehmand Agency were Rohingya Muslims.
He further asked, “What were the petitioners’ objections over citizenship of people of this area?” The petitioners’ counsel contended that these people were actually citizens of Afghanistan. He said that his client had filed a case against the issuance of CNICs to these people.
“The petitioners were not seeking to force these people out from the country,” he added. Justice Esa said, “We were just shedding tears here for Burma Muslims, but are not ready to provide rights to citizens in our country.”
It may be mentioned here that a security department had also submitted its report on the matter with the bench. The bench after hearing the arguments dismissed the petition.
