655 govt officers admit dual nationality

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was informed on Thursday that 152 government officials had concealed, while 655 disclosed their dual nationality.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, resumed hearing of the suo moto case pertaining to the dual national civil servants.

DG Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Bashir Memon informed the court that 152 government officials had concealed their dual nationality, while 655 disclosed it. He further said the agency had collected data on 182,090 officers till March 18. The chief justice observed that the exercise taken with regard to dual nationality was not meant to prejudice the individuals rather it was just for the purpose of collecting data. He said the proceedings were not aimed at humiliating or punishing anyone adding that the court was dropping the previous proceedings.

Additional Attorney General (AAG) Nayyar Rizvi informed the court that data on another 1,000 officials had also been obtained and notices were also published in newspapers advising others to reveal their dual nationality.

Meanwhile, the DG FIA said they had received data on more than 36,000 officers.

The court was further informed that 665 officers were married to women possessing dual nationality and five to women who were foreign nationals. The DG FIA informed the court that there were errors in compiling the data adding that 78 government servants had declared their nationality but their names came due to the fault of their respective departments. After the break, the hearing was conducted in the auditorium of the court for want of space.

Later, the court adjourned the hearing for date-in-office.

On March 26, the court had issued notices to 147 civil servants from Grade-17 and above for concealing their dual nationality.

Notices were also issued to 291 government servants whose spouses were dual nationals.

The court had also issued a notice to the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) for assistance in the case and granted two weeks to DG Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to gather and submit details of dual national officers.