Questions of nationality

A recent Supreme Court hearing into government officials who hold dual nationality has found that at least 758 civil servants hold passports of a foreign country and of those 147 either concealed or lied about their status. In addition to that, the spouses of 922 civil servants are reportedly either dual nationals or foreign citizens and out of those 231 concealed this fact. This information was presented to the Supreme Court by the Federal Investigation Agency and the court will now have to decide what the appropriate response should be. In the case of those bureaucrats who lied about their dual nationality or hid it from the government, dismissal from service is the only appropriate response. Where the matter gets more complicated is with those who have already declared their dual nationality. The laws currently in place make no mention of dual nationality being a disqualifying factor for those seeking to join the civil service. To many, removing them from their jobs when they have broken no law and have been open about their status seems rather unfair. This applies equally to those who declared the status of their spouses. Being married to a dual national or foreign citizen should never be a fireable offence.

Rather than the courts going after individual civil servants on an ad-hoc basis, what is needed is for parliament to clarify laws regarding dual nationality. Any law that is formulated should take into the account that the conditions in the country today have forced many people – usually those of means – to obtain dual nationalities for themselves and their families. The Supreme Court has already set the precedent that dual nationals cannot be members of the National Assembly but it should be the job of parliament to decide if they are allowed to serve their country in other positions. It is understandable if the government feels dual nationals should be kept out of sensitive government jobs in the Foreign Office, Ministry of Interior and the armed forces – and it should certainly investigate if any dual nationals are holding such positions – but to exclude them from public life completely might be going a step too far. At a time when the same political parties who want the franchise extended to overseas Pakistanis are demagoguing against dual nationals who still live in the country, we need a period of sober reflection rather than giving in to the mob instinct.