SOONER or later, there will be general elections in the country, maybe this year or sometime next year. The debate about voting rights for expatriate Pakistanis is again becoming a topic of national discussion and is also being questioned at various forums.

Expatriate Pakistanis having dual nationalities, and thereby having dual loyalties, are being considered for this favour, but no one talks about the millions of Pakistan-based Pakistanis who live and work inside Pakistan but at long distances from their native places.

These Pakistanis are deprived of their right to vote only because they are not able to travel from the places they are working to the cities or towns where they are registered as voters.

The present election laws only give voting facility through postal ballots to government employees, armed forces personnel and prisoners but denies the same to ordinary Pakistanis who are working and contributing towards the prosperity of the country.

It seems that no one is concerned about the non-participation of these ‘native’ Pakistanis in the electoral process simply because they earn and contribute to the economy in Pakistani currency, not in terms of foreign exchange. is that so?

Ayub Malik
Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2022