As reported in the media, during the course of hearing of Dr Tahirul Qadri's petition, on February 12 and 13, relative to legitimacy in the matter of formation and composition of the Election Commission, under constitutional provisions, Dr Qadri was severely grilled by the Supreme Court on the issue of his dual nationality.
As a common citizen and with common sense, I was quite disappointed with Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's remarks directed towards Dr Qadri, in the context of the dual nationality issue, that, "as a person having dual nationality of another country, cannot show his no-confidence in the parliament of Pakistan." Another honourable judge on the bench asked Dr Qadri, as to when would he head back to Canada and as a commoner, I am still trying to understand the relevance of this question in the context of the petition?
To begin with, yes, Dr Qadri does have dual nationality, both Pakistani and Canadian but he has not renounced his Pakistani nationality. Dr Qadri is as much a Pakistani as any judge of Pakistan's Supreme Judiciary. The constitution of Pakistan allows Pakistanis to hold dual nationality. Despite being holder of dual nationality, one does not divorce, disassociate himself or herself from country of origin and remains tied to his or her roots.
It is the fundamental right of every Pakistani regardless of holding of dual nationality, to be concerned about the state of affairs of country of origin and legitimately question any relevant matter of concern in the larger interest of the citizenry. It is a cardinal right under universally accepted norms of an individual's right.
The issue here was not of Dr Qadri's dual nationality, his past record or personality, but was that of maintainability, substance of the issue, merit and demerit of the petition to determine if indeed, the election commission was constituted as per the rules of the constitution or not, and that was the crux of the petition.
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