Senator Prof. Khurshid Ahmad has strongly condemned the PPP coalition government’s attempt to change the law of contempt

Islamabad (July 5, 2012):  In a press statement issued today the Naib Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan ex-Senator Prof. Khurshid Ahmad has strongly condemned the PPP coalition government’s attempt to change the law of contempt and also to subvert the constitutional scheme of closing the doors of the Parliament to those who have nationality of a country other than Pakistan as well. Prof. Khurshid said, it seems that the Government is trying to hoodwink the people and the Parliament whose present focus is on the Government’s treacherous act to open US and NATO supplies.

Prof. Khurshid Ahmad noted that the change of law of contempt clearly shows the Government’s intention to subvert the process of justice and rule of law in the country and create a class of privileged persons who would be above the law. This is a clear violation of the Constitution of Pakistan, which categorically forbids all such discriminations under its Articles 4 and 25. “This is a direct attack on basic rights of the citizens and shows malafide intent of the present government; and the Parliament and the people of Pakistan must resist this attack on the Constitution and the Judiciary”, he stressed.

“The issue of election to the Parliament and holding the political office must not be confused with the right to vote to those Pakistan expatriates who are citizens of Pakistan. All Pakistani citizens in the country and abroad enjoy right to vote under the Constitution and the attempt to make provision for discharge of this right by Pakistani citizens abroad is acknowledged in the Constitution as well. Such an arrangement is not only constitutional but correct for the point of view of the citizens’ basic rights. Other countries of the world have made similar arrangements for their citizens”, he observed and added that most of the Pakistanis abroad generally do not have dual nationality. Over 65% of the Pakistanis are in the Middle East and other African and Asian countries do not enjoy dual nationality.

Prof. Khurshid pointed out that even Pakistani law does not allow dual nationality for its citizens in respect of all countries of the world.  It is only the Commonwealth countries that historically enjoy this facility. There is no common nationality between Pakistan, India, USA and most of the other countries. Our Constitution expressly provides that anyone holding nationality other than Pakistan’s cannot become the Member of the Parliament or occupy key-political posts. Hence, the right to vote and right to become member of the Parliament must not be confused. One can be a voter at the age of 18 years but he cannot become Member of the Parliament or the National Assembly until his or her age is 25 years. A voter cannot become a Member of the Senate until his or her age becomes 35 years. He cannot become the President of Pakistan unless he is 45 years of age. Similarly, Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution have laid down a number of other conditions which do not affect voters but make it imperative that those elected to the Assembly and Senate must also have certain qualifications.
It is very unfortunate, Prof. Khurshid said, that PPP and its allies are trying to subvert the entire constitutional scheme which was unanimously adopted by the framers of the Constitution in 1973 and unanimously reaffirmed through 18th Constitutional Amendment. Prof. Khurshid Ahmad warned the Government not to play this havoc with the Constitution, the political process of vital interests of Pakistan’s sovereignty and strategic imperatives.