The Ignorant Bureaucracy of Pakistan
By Mrs. Fozia R.
Germany

The Citizenship Act of 1951 was amended in 2000 and called the Pakistan Citizenship Act 1951 (Amendment) Ordinance 2000 (Ordinance No. XIII of 2000 dated 18.04.2000, Notification SRO 210(1)/2000 dated 18.04.2000) to enable women of Pakistani descent to claim Pakistani nationality for their children born to foreign husbands. Earlier the law allowed giving Pakistani nationality to a child only if his or her father was a Pakistani national, based on the principle of right to citizenship by descent only from the father’s side.
This provision acted against the interests of Pakistani women marrying foreigners and living outside Pakistan. This has now been changed.
Now, according to the law a child born on or after 18 April 2000 is a citizen of Pakistan regardless of the child's country of birth if either parent is a citizen of Pakistan.
For references I am providing here few references:
The Pakistan Mission to the UN published a Press Release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad on February 28, 2001 in which it was mentioned, and I quote: “The Government also amended Pakistan Citizenship Act of 1951 to enable women of Pakistan decent to claim Pakistani nationality for their children born to foreign husbands.”
According to the information posted on website of Interior Division of Ministry of Interior, Government of Pakistan for the categories of persons granted Pakistan Citizenship (please see: http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/interior-division/informationandservices/citizenship.jsp ): “Children born to Pakistani mother and foreign national father after 18.04.2000 are to be treated automatically as citizen of Pakistan.”
I would like to mentioned here that according to the Pakistan Citizenship Rules 1952 No. 21, a child born outside Pakistan has to be registered with the nearest Pakistani Consulate or Embassy.
I, as a Pakistani mother married to a foreign national and living abroad, tried to get the registration of my daughter who was born in 2004 and sent filled Form “S” to the Honourable Ambassador Mr. Asif Ezdi at the Embassy of Pakistan in Berlin along with a letter mentioning all details and quoting all above mentioned references.
After some days I received a letter of Mr. Mohammad Saleem, Second Secretary at the Embassy, who sent me back all original forms along with supporting documents and asked for the copy of passport of the (foreign national) father. I sent all documents along with the requested papers for attention of Mr. Saleem again. After some days I rang up the Embassy and was informed that Mr. Saleem is in Pakistan these days and I’ll be informed as early as the matter was finalized but I haven’t heard since then.
After some weeks as I was in Pakistan to visit my family, I decided to apply for a certificate of citizenship for my daughter Aamnah under section 5 of the Pakistan Citizenship Act 1951. I went to the Director of Immigration & Passport Office, Karachi (Saddar office) and was informed to contact Mr. Ebad of the Nationality Dept.
I told him of my intention and found that he was surprised to know that there is such a law and that I wished to have Pakistani nationality for my foreign born daughter. He told me that the application should be submitted to the Islamabad office and suggested to me to apply through the Pakistan Mission abroad directly to the Directorate of Immigration and Passport, HQ Islamabad, as there was so much difficulties in applying for the certificate to the Karachi Office.
According to the law and regulation mentioned above my daughter is a Pakistani national and according to the Pakistan Citizenship Rules 1952 No. 9 “any person claiming citizenship under section 5 of the act shall apply to the Provincial Government of the area.”
The Interior Division of the Federal Ministry of Interior also published the information that “Application form can either be submitted direct to Directorate General Immigration & Passports Islamabad or its RPOs at Lahore & Karachi or in the offices of Deputy Commissioners of other Districts in Pakistan”.
I couldn’t understand why the bureaucracy in Pakistan is not aware of any change or amendment of any law of Pakistan.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
© 2004 pakistanlink.com . All Rights Reserved.