ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, on Wednesday, questioned the disenfranchisement of expats and expressed wonder on why the law giving voting rights to overseas Pakistanis had not yet been passed by the parliament.
He also questioned why overseas Pakistanis are being discriminated and expressed amazement over parliament’s refusal to give them the right to vote.
Additional Attorney General Waqar Rana told the three-judge bench, headed by CJP Saqib Nisar, that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has conveyed, “giving right of vote to overseas Pakistanis is not possible.”
The bench adjourned the hearing till next week.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday approached the Supreme Court to grant millions of overseas Pakistanis settled in 159 countries across the globe the right to vote.
PTI chief Imran Khan, Dr Arif Alvi, Sardar Azhar Tariq and Ruxana Bhatti jointly moved an application requesting the apex court to declare that the “overseas Pakistanis are citizens of Pakistan and it is their fundamental right to utilise their right of franchise whether in Pakistan or abroad”.
The PTI pleaded the court to direct the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to allow them to cast their precious votes in the general elections.
The application has been moved by renowned lawyers Anwar Mansoor Khan and Chaudhry Faisal Hussain.
