Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif’s proposal for reserved seats for Overseas Pakistanis in the parliament may not be in the best interests of a 9 million strong diasporas spread across the world for a number of reasons. First and foremost, reserved seats are provided by political parties so they would be handpicked at the whims and wishes of political bosses. Secondly, his proposal for seven seats in the National Assembly and two seats in the Senate isn’t feasible as it’s like providing crumbs for the global Pakistani diasporas. Thirdly, the proposal for expatriates to vote in-person at their constituencies in Pakistan is both time consuming and a mockery of their contributions. None of this represents a fair method and any kind of legislation moved in such case shall need to be considered a hundred times before being enacted. The PTI government has committed on providing Overseas Pakistanis with a fair representation not only through electronic voting machines (EVMs) & internet voting but also ensuring that they are allowed to their preferred candidate in designated constituencies. It’s quite strange that the opposition is trying to initiate hurdles in a basic right of Overseas Pakistanis who waited for this historic moment for some 74 years. It’s like the opposition doesn’t care about them at all. Ironically, PML-N used to talk about voting rights for expatriates in the not too distant past so why exactly resist now? Is it because out of fear or paranoia that the PTI might bag more seats? In this case, maybe the party needs to work harder in convincing the global diasporas which provides record-breaking remittances to sustain the economy. Frankly speaking, without their assistance, the economy would’ve remained in constant doldrums so the opposition needs to ponder upon its ill-conceived political strategy. Several countries across the world including those in Europe and North America provide voting rights to their expats and the PTI government committing to the cause is no less than a blessing for Overseas Pakistanis. If the opposition is serious then it could propose a legislation where dual nationals could be allowed to run for parliament without any kind of petty restrictions subject to background checks. Of course, it’s a divisive matter but then we have dual nationals working as public office holders in countries such as Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. So why not in Pakistan? *