KARACHI
Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor here Friday demanded to remove the dual nationality holders from key government posts as loyalties of these people are divided between two countries.
He said as per the law and construction, the government servants should be fully reliable as performing government duties is a delicate jobs and at the key level posts it also deals with the national secrets. He said allowing dual nationality holders to sit on key posts is like comprising with the vital interests of the nation and country.
He praised the stance of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in this regard. He said the PAC of the National Assembly has already asked the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) to remove dual nationals from ‘sensitive positions’.
Expressing concern over high-ranking officials in sensitive positions despite having the nationality of other countries, including the US, the UK, Australia and Canada, the committee noted that this is not the first time such information has been shared with parliament, as the Senate in 2013 was apprised of the names and designations of several such officials serving in Nadra.
The PAC discussed the matter in its meeting, after it was observed that Nadra, which has links with sensitive agencies and government organisations, had been sitting on the delicate information. The committee rightly noted: “Individuals who have pledged allegiance to Her Majesty cannot be trusted.”
Such an individual could take care of interest of foreign countries easily as their future and the future of their children is linked to these countries instead of Pakistan. If they cannot be removed from service, they should at least be removed from important positions in the larger intrest of the nation and country.
Altaf Shakoor said when joblessness is at the peak, why we need to hire dual nationality holders instead of selecting pure Pakistanis with individed loyalty on merit to serve the nation and country. He said all government employees in Federation and province must be recruited through public service commission with the constitutional requirement for filling government posts.
Altaf Shakoor said we have a large young population and with its proper education and training we can’t just cater local job market but also the global one. He stressed on vocational education and demanded to open a technical university in every district of Pakistan.
He said we should adopt our education system so that it could produce graduates in disciplines that are in high demand. He said our system which gives ‘paper’ degrees to graduates without giving them any earning skill is just useless.
Altaf Shakoor demanded to publish the names of all dual nationality holders servicing in government and semi government offices in the Centre and the provinces so that the nation knows about potential ‘fifth columnists’ sitting in the corridors of power.
