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.
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