Occupying public offices: parliamentarians for law to stop dual nationality holders

Parliamentarians in National Assembly on Tuesday called for legislation to stop dual nationality holders from occupying public offices as well as becoming member of the Parliament. The debate on the resolution moved by Shamshad Sattar Bachani of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) started after it was opposed by the Parliamentary Secretary Cabinet and Establishment Division Ms Farhat Khan.
Taking part in the debate, Riaz Pirzada and Waqas Akram of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) said that dual nationality holders have played havoc with this country. The latest example they said was of Hameesh Khan President Bank of Punjab who was living in the US after looting the bank and the government is now facing difficulty in his repatriation. They said that legislation was required to prevent dual nationality holders from becoming public office holder and even member of the Parliament. The dual nationality holders must not have access to the classified information, they added.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) members Shiekh Aftab, Muhammad Hanif Abbasi and Ayaz Sadiq favouring the resolution demanded that the House must legislate to permanently disallow dual nationality holders from holding public office. They said that bureaucrats having dual nationality have plundered national wealth and shifted it to countries of dual nationality along with their families.
However, Naseer Bhutta strongly opposed his party colleagues, saying that holding dual nationality was not a crime and any legislation against them by this House would be illegal. The debate on the resolution would continue during the next sitting.
Meanwhile, Minister for Defence Production Abdul Qayum Jatoi responding to a call attention notice informed the House that no employee of Pakistan Ordinance Factories, Wah was removed from the service. He said that 1500 casual employees were removed from the service on the expiry of their contracts and all of them have been absorbed again. He said that clothing factory, which was closed due to technical reasons, has also been reopened where five hundred women have been recruited on casual basis. The call attention notice was moved by Barjees Tahir and other members of the National Assembly.
Speaking on a point of order, members of the National Assembly raised a number of issues including increasing incidents of kidnapping in Sindh along with scarcity of water and shortage of electricity in the rural areas of the province.
The members also urged the government to take up water issue with India seriously and seek international mediator's help as India is continuously violating Indus Water Treaty by constructing illegal dams in occupied valley, resulting in shortage of water in Pakistan.