Pak: Thousands of officers lied about dual nationality

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has issued notices to 147 civil servants of Grade-17 and above for concealing their dual nationality and seven others who are foreign nationals, according to a report of The News International.

Notices were also issued to 291 other civil servants whose spouses possess dual nationality but they did not share the information, as a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar resumed hearing in the suo motu case on the issue of dual nationality holders in government service.

During the hearing, it was revealed that 32,000 government servants out of a total of over 172,000 did not submit correct personal information for official record.

The court issued notice to the attorney-general to assist it on the matters pertaining to the case and granted two-week time to the DG FIA to gather and submit details of dual national officials.

On January 17, the Chief Justice had taken a suo moto notice of the officials with dual nationalities serving in the federal and provincial governments.

On Monday, DG FIA Bashir Memon informed the court that the agency in collaboration with the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) gathered the data of 144,884 government officials. He added that 616 civil servants voluntarily submitted declaration that they had dual nationality and the spouses of another 691 were dual nationals.

He said 147 officers had concealed the fact that they possessed dual nationality. Seven others had declared they did not possess dual nationality but they were, in fact, foreign nationals, he said.

During the hearing, the chief justice inquired whether a foreign national could be appointed as government official. The establishment secretary responded that it was possible if the government granted permission.

Similarly, the Chief Justice said the court had not mentioned in its order to gather the data of those having dual national spouses and asked whether it was prohibited. The establishment replied that the official would have to seek permission for that.

Earlier this month, the court had expressed dissatisfaction over the report submitted by the establishment secretary, which mentioned only 213 dual national officials. The court then constituted a committee comprising representatives of the Establishment Division, Nadra and FIA and sought details of dual national government servants serving in Grades 17 to Grade 22.

UNI