Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar has taken notice of dual nationality of civil servants and judges of superior courts and the district judiciary.

The notice was taken during the hearing of a service matter case in the court.

Taking notice of the issue, the chief justice directed Establishment Division secretary to submit a detailed report containing the names of dual national civil servants from BPS-17 to BPS-22 within 15 days. The chief justice also directed registrars of Supreme Court, Federal Shariat Court and all high courts to submit a list of dual national judges of superior courts and district judiciary (if any) within 15 days.

Currently the judges are not legally barred from holding dual nationalities, however when the top court led by former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry disqualified dozens of parliamentarians for dual nationalities, the members of parliament campaigned for a ban on judges for the same.

In March 2017, the government informed the National Assembly that despite repeated requests the apex court and high courts of Lahore and Sindh have not provided information regarding names of superior court judges having dual nationalities.

On March 6, 2017, while answering a similar question on the floor of the House, former law minister Zahid Hamid had expressed ‘inability’ to get the required information from superior courts.

“Not only repeated reminders have been sent to the registrar offices of these superior courts but also telephone calls were made to get the requisite information. But, it has not been provided yet,” Hamid had informed the legislators.

On February 4, 2014, the Senate had unanimously passed a resolution asking the government to publish names of those judges of the superior judiciary who held dual citizenships and the then Senate chairman Nayyar Bokhari gave two months’ time for its implementation.

Published in Daily Times, January 18^th 2018.