Muzaffarabad, April 21: Two private bills, introduced in the National Assembly of Pakistan seeking a ban on Pakistanis with dual nationality or foreign holdings to assume public offices, has drawn a flak from a cabinet member in Pakistan administered Kashmir who represents the UK based Kashmiri expatriates in the state legislature.
 Mehmood Riaz, minister for information and environment, termed the bills a “deep rooted conspiracy against the country’s economy which amounted to challenging the patriotism of overseas Pakistanis” and expressed the hope that the parliamentarians would reject it by a thumping majority. 
 “At a time when the world has become a global village and Pakistanis and Kashmiris are making a foray into the politics of the countries they had moved to in search of livelihood, introduction of such bills is detrimental to the interests of Pakistan and its people,” he said.
 Talking to reporters here the Information Minister pointed out that hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis settled abroad, particularly in the Middle East, Europe, United States and Canada, were also remitting billions of dollars every year and barring them from participation in political activities back home would gradually alienate them from the country. 
 “It’s the remittances by the Pakistani expatriates which play a pivotal role in strengthening the country’s feeble economy and attempt to block entry of dual nationality holding Pakistanis in public offices appears to be a deep rooted conspiracy that will deal a further blow to the country economy,” he said.
 He said as had also been pointed out by some prudent parliamentarians on Tuesday, one of the bills, if enacted, would seriously affect the students who were bound to open bank accounts in the countries where they would move to pursue their higher studies. Riaz, who is himself associated with the Labour Party, pointed out that currently there were four peers of Pakistani and Kashmiri origin in the House of Lords and six MPs in the House of Commons in UK.
 “One of them, Baroness Saeeda Warsi, has also been appointed as cabinet minister and also chairperson of the ruling Conservative Party, something which has made the Pakistanis and Kashmiris raise their heads high with pride,” he said.
 Similarly, he said, 34 borough councils in UK had seen mayors and deputy mayors of Pakistani and Kashmiri origin while the number of councilors in various local body institutions was more than 460 at the moment.
 Apart from the UK, Riaz said, the Canadian, Norwegian and European Parliaments had also at least one each member of Pakistani origin.
 “In this backdrop, introduction of bills aimed at closing the doors of public offices in Pakistan on the Pakistanis with dual nationality is unfathomable,” he said.
 He advised the Pakistani parliamentarians to desist from taking any step which could lead to the alienation of Pakistanis with dual nationality on the one hand and tarnish the image of country at the international level on the other.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 21 Apr 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:00:00 IST