20,000 Bureaucrats Holding Dual Nationality Set To Face Music
According to a report, more than 22,000 senior government officers are dual nationals and 11,000 of them belong to police.
ISLAMABAD ( JAVED MAHMOOD )
At present about 20,000 civil servants are holding dual nationality in Pakistan and they are set to face music as an upcoming amendment will bar the dual nationality for the bureaucrats.
This development surfaced in a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat when the NA body discussed the ‘The Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2021’ moved by Senator Afnan Ullah Khan on Jan 17, 2022.
According to a report, submitted to the Supreme Court on dual nationality revealed that more than 22,000 top government officers are dual nationals. According to the report, 11,000 officers belong to police and bureaucracy.
The bureaucrats holding dual nationality are working in interior division, power division, aviation division, finance division, petroleum, commerce ministry, establishment division, information ministry, Pakistan Railways.
The committee was informed that the proposed amendment in the law will bar civil servants from holding dual nationality. Hence, the bureaucrats having dual nationality will be given a certain deadline to relinquish their foreign nationality.
Ali Mohammad Khan, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs said in the meeting that government servants should not hold dual nationality during service because a person two countries nationality cannot be loyal to Pakistan.
Establishment Secretary Afzal Latif said this upcoming condition would affect a large number of civil servants, and viewpoint of the Interior Ministry must be obtained before making amendment.
Chairman of the Committee Rana Maqbool Ahmad, therefore, directed the cabinet division and interior secretaries to ensure their presence in the next meeting to share their viewpoint on the amendment under discussion.