Prime Minister Raja Pervez Asharf and several other prominent political dignitaries belonging to different political parties have failed to submit affidavits, negating their dual nationality within the given deadline. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had set November 9 (Friday) as the last date for the submission of affidavits on the directive of the Supreme Court after a large number of lawmakers were disqualified for holding dual citizenships, disallowed under the Constitution.
The federal capital is abuzz with rumours that Prime Minister Asharf might be holding dual citizenship, as he is also reportedly having enough properties abroad, particularly the UK, and this might have led him to "skip" the submission of affidavit. "The primer, no doubt has properties in the UK, but I don't think he has dual citizenship...since he has busy schedule and Friday was a public holiday, which might have hindered the PM to submit the affidavit," said a senior PPP leader.
As many as 212 members of both the houses of parliament and provincial assemblies could not submit the affidavits to confirm they did not possess dual nationality. According to ECP officials, as many as 29 senators, 75 MNAs, 24 Punjab MPAs, 76 lawmakers from Sindh, seven from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and a member of the Balochistan Assembly are yet to submit their affidavits.
They said that prominent among those who did not submit the affidavits included Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Khurshid Ahmad Shah, Manzoor Wattoo, Makhdoom Shahabuddin, PPP's Secretary-General Jahangir Badr, Aitzaz Ahsan and Raza Rabbani.
They said that the ECP had sent letters to the lawmakers, giving them a month-long deadline to submit their affidavits, but they failed to meet the deadline. The officials also said that the ECP might extend the deadline by "two or three days" because of the public holiday on November 9.
A senior leader of Awami National Party (ANP), which emerged as the sole political party without any member with dual citizenship, told Business Recorder that lawmakers' hesitation "has raised many an eyebrows". He termed the delay intentional and said that had they (parliamentarians) been fair, they could have submitted the affidavits "well in time", adding that the ECP had given them ample time to carry out the job.