I think he is backing what SC has been saying for quite sometime that dual nationals do not deserve to hold public offices. However, having said that what about Pakistanis who live outside Pakistan and want to exercise their right to vote? Isn’t it really unfair that they cant really vote in the upcoming elections?**
LAHORE: Speaking on the issue of politicians holding dual nationalities Chief Election Commisisoner (CEC) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim said on Friday that the country needs “pure Pakistanis” as its representatives and that “half-Pakistanis” were not needed.
**Ebrahim, speaking to the media in Lahore, said, “This is a defining moment for the country. If free and fair elections won’t be conducted then we won’t have the ‘new Pakistan’ that we want.”
He said that the only task that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has “from 5am to 12am” is to deliberate over how free and fair elections could be conducted. Ebrahim said that a lot of mistakes were made in the past and that it was time to improve.
“The ECP has summoned a meeting on October 19 to decide what to do on the issue of dual nationality. We were the first ones to disqualify parliamentarians, holding dual nationalities. Now that the Supreme Court is also looking into the matter, it has further strengthened this case. This matter if of high importance”
He said that the parliament “was upset” over how some politicians were disqualified for holding dual nationalities. “We sought information from some of them, but they refused to cooperate.”
Ebrahim expressed dissatisfaction over the media coverage done on the voters list and said that the media “misquoted figures”.
“The newspapers run stories saying that hundreds of thousands of voters’ name were not included in the voters’ list … I say, take at least one or two thousand names which you think are not there in the list to prove it.”
The CEC said that it was the responsibility of the election commission to compile voters’ list, however, the politicians, media, the civil society and voters were also responsible for it.
“If your name is not there in the list then you should get yourself registered, now that the process has become so simple and you can register yourself through your computerised national identity card.”
He also dispelled rumors about any intervention from the Presidency, saying that there never was and never will be any intervention from the Presidency.