Beyond borders

The PTI government, at a cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday has revived a previous bid to allow dual national Pakistanis to contest elections in the country. In a statement it has been said PM Khan wishes dual national Pakistanis to become a part of the country’s political system. This is a proposal that has been discussed before – in fact over many years. In past, under existing rules legislators have been disqualified for being dual nationals. The Supreme Court in October last year had disqualified two PML-N lawmakers on the grounds that they were dual nationals when they filed nomination papers. Former Chief Justice Saqib Nisar had also asked the then Punjab governor to furnish an affidavit stating he had given up his second nationality before filing nomination papers.The issue then has been open to much debate. Under the PML-N government a special parliamentary committee on election reforms discussed the idea, the PPP and PML-N supported the idea of giving the right of vote to overseas Pakistanis but their members in the committee did not press for it after the Election Commission of Pakistan reported major technical and logistical issues in arranging such a ballot after conducting a mock exercise in four countries. Given the difficulties the ECP faced in handling only 67 postal ballots, naturally many difficulties will need to be sorted out if millions of overseas Pakistanis are to vote and also contest elections.We know the PTI has a considerable vote bank made up of Pakistanis living outside the country. It is also true that other nations, including the US, allow postal ballots to citizens living overseas. There are however not many examples of non-residents becoming parliamentarians in their country of origin. To achieve this, Article 63 (c) of the constitution –which bars those holding other nationalities from voting in Pakistan – would in the first place have to be amended. The prime minister at the cabinet meeting pointed out that if Pakistanis living abroad became a part of the country’s mainstream political system and were present in parliament they could contribute to the country’s economy. During his election campaign Imran Khan had spoken multiple times about persuading Pakistanis living in other states to contribute heavily into the economy. These contributions have not poured in as yet. It is true many talented Pakistanis live and work overseas. It is unfortunate we have lost their skills and their expertise. However, the question of giving them the right to contest elections needs to be thought through logically, given the technicalities involved, and the fact that these persons sometimes have only a limited vision of ground realities in Pakistan. Certainly they have much to contribute, exactly in what capacity needs to be worked out with in coordination with other political parties.

from The News International - Editorial https://ift.tt/2GwJPGC