Dual Nationality war: PPP’s Babar for law to prevent dual national judges

As the Supreme Court has disqualified several lawmakers for holding dual nationality, now the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party has launched a counter attack and has demanded suitable legislation to bar dual nationals from becoming judges.

Speaking on a point in the Senate on Friday to discuss the implications of an answer given last month by the Law Minister that there was no bar on superior court judges to hold dual nationality, PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar also called for the names of dual nationals in judiciary if there were any.

“Our judges are most honorable and I do not believe that any one of them has taken oath of allegiance to the constitution of any other country but it is necessary that the Law Minister be asked to make a categorical statement,” he said in the Upper House of the Parliament.

The question asked in the Senate last month about the dual nationals being eligible to become judges and the answers given are most significant and raise further questions.
Farhatullah Babar said that said that Article 63 (1) © of the Constitution clearly disqualified a person from being a Member of the Parliament if he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan or acquires citizenship of a foreign state. A number of MPs have already been disqualified for possessing dual nationality. Not only this, the SC asked the MPs to file fresh declarations which the MPs did without hesitation in deference to the court.

He then referred to another question asked about the dual nationals in defence forces and the reply given to it by the Defence Minister on Nov 20 last which stated “persons holding dual nationality are not eligible for appointment in the armed forces of Pakistan”.

Senator Farhatullah Babar then referred to yet another question asked last week about persons with dual nationality in government service and readout the reply given to it that said that that a candidate having dual nationality must surrender his her nationality and inform the government before joining the civil services academy.

So it is clear that a dual national cannot be a Member of Parliament, cannot join the armed forces and cannot join the civil service academy until he or she renounced the foreign nationality, he said and asked what is the rationale of allowing dual nationals to become judges of superior courts?. Why there was an exception in the case of judges, he asked?
He said that he did not suspect that some judges were dual nationals, ‘they are all honorable men, do not do wrong and are above suspicion’.

“They do no wrong and that is perhaps why no one has been impeached during the past quarter of a century,” he said.

He said that judges exercised extraordinary powers over all organs of the state. “It was unimaginable that there are judges who have sworn allegiance to the constitution of other states and yet would exercise such vast powers over the elected Parliament and other state organs in Pakistan. No I do not believe it. It cannot be. It is unimaginable”.
 

He said that judges have demonstrated powers to throw out of office a Prime Minister elected by the people of Pakistan. It is unimaginable that a judge with foreign nationality would negate the will of the people of Pakistan. “No, it is not possible and our judges are above suspicion”.

The PPP leader said that judges had demonstrated power to overturn the ruling of the Speaker representing the Parliament elected by the people of Pakistan and the court had even addressed her letter in an unceremonious manner.

Babar then read out from the ruling the Speaker that said “Before proceeding further, I may like to show my serious concerns regarding letters through which Short Order and detailed judgment of the Supreme Court were separately conveyed by the Assistant Registrar writing for Registrar and addressed directly to the Speaker. The Speaker holds a constitutional position. The office of the Speaker demands the highest respect from other organs of the State and functionaries of the Government. The contents of the letters are in bad taste and also against the parliamentary norms and traditions”.

He said that he had great faith in the judges and did not believe that any of them would exercise such powers over the custodian of the House elected by the people, was the national of another country.

Senator Farhatullah Babar sought an explanation from the honorable Law Minister saying that his reply in the Senate had raised serious questions that needed to be answered.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=36447

Posted by Tahir Khan on Dec 21 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.