Dual nationality

83 foreigners in PK parliament

The statement could do well as a headline in an eveninger, be termed as a wild allegation or even suggest a paranoid personality disorder. The answer however is NOTA (none of the above) , which hopefully will also be a new option for voters in the next election.
History is replete with examples of powerful states capturing or colonizing those who could not manage their own affairs. The trend now is even more vicious and based on two simple rules. Maintain a civilized façade and keep it cost effective. Thus if you can buy the top leadership or simply install your own people at the top positions in a country, you can make them do anything you want with ease and even maintain a fig leaf of legality and democratic demeanor.
News that Pakistan’s top leadership, cabinet, Governor Houses and Parliament have been penetrated by foreign nationals has been doing the rounds for a long time. No one however knew the truth or the spread of this disease, nor was there a way to verify the facts. It is a closely guarded secret and foolproof mechanisms are in place to protect this information from getting public.
This widespread and systemic “capture the state through planted nationals” phenomena was partially exposed when the Supreme Court disqualified a number of individuals, some of whom occupied most sensitive public offices. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. To have a better and more accurate view of this strategic penetration one needs to re-visit the cumbersome and fatiguing path undertaken by a Pakistani citizen to uncover the truth of “who rules Pakistan”.

On Sept.12, 2009, using the Freedom of Information (FOI) law, a request was sent to the Ministry of Interior,Islamabad to provide names of all parliamentarians, Ministers and Senators who hold nationality, passport, green card or permanent residence for any other country, besides Pakistan. When no response was received for four months, the Wafaqi Mohtasib was approached to order the Interior Ministry to do what they ought to have done in 21 days. On the intervention of Wafaqi Mohtasib (letter HQR/0000854/10 dated 27-01-2010) the Ministry of Interior sent an interesting response (Letter 3/2/2009-citz dated Feb.11, 2010) stating that “this subject does not relate to the Ministry of Interior and falls within the domain of Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.”

The reluctant FOI law was flogged once again and the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs was asked to provide the information on those who hold dual nationalities. The Ministry’s response (F.23.35/2000-PA-Admn dated 27th April 2010) was simple. “The information is neither available nor falls within the ambit of this Ministry and may be obtained from other organizations such as Cabinet Division, National Assembly, Senate etc.” It was getting clear that the ministries had joined hands to play the ‘passing the parcel” game to hide the information on the foreigners who rule this country. Fed up with ‘ask so and so” responses, in May 2010, this rather stubborn individual decided to invoke the FOI law to directly seek this information from five key institutions namely the National Assembly, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Senate, Cabinet Division and of course the most concerned (and the least interested) – Election Commission of Pakistan.

As expected, there was a stony silence from all five departments and the Wafaqi Mohtasib had to be once again requested to chip in. The response from 4 out of 5 departments was only a repeat of what others had said before – “we have no information and this subject does not fall within our ambit”. This essentially meant that no one either knew or was pushed about those who ruled Pakistan.

But just when the chapter was about to be closed, a polite and simple response was received from the National Assembly of Pakistan. The National Assembly Secretariat Letter no. 8-(1)/2010-C&L dated 22nd July 2010 stated, and I quote, “ I am directed to refer to Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat’s Notice no. HQR/006534/10 dated 23 June 2010, and to inform you that as per available CVs (259) of the Members of National Assembly, the Honourable Members hold Pakistani Nationality”.

This unbelievable piece of information is the most accurate and reliable record so far – a confirmation by the National Assembly itself that there are 259 Pakistani citizens in the National Assembly. It may be reasonable to conclude that the remaining 83 NA members (342 being the total number) are either foreigners or hold dual nationality.

The oath of loyalty to UK, to the Queen and her heirs and successors, and the oath of loyalty to US which requires renunciation of all allegiance to any foreign prince, state or sovereignty and to bear arms on behalf of United States have been widely reported in the press. One needs to wonder why are we hell-bent upon legalizing the process of takeover and colonization of Pakistan and for whose benefit.

Naeem Sadiq
The News 2012