The apparent understanding reached between the
treasury and opposition benches on August 24 for
amending the Pakistan Citizenship Act of 1951 to
free it from existing gender biases is welcome
but it still goes to underline the blatant
discrimination that the women of this country
have to face at all levels, including even under
the law. The act, as it currently stands, allows
citizenship to women of foreign origin married to
Pakistani men but does not confer the same
privilege to foreign men married to Pakistani
women. This raises the obvious question, why are
not Pakistani women who have foreign spouses
entitled to the same treatment under the law as
Pakistani men? The reasons, according to one
report, put forward for this refusal is that this
presents a security risk and that in some cases
it is based on reciprocity, and since other
countries do not allow it, so Pakistan will not
either. One has to say - without losing a sense
of decorum and civility - that both these reasons
border on the nonsensical. How can foreign men
married to Pakistani women be termed security
risks when foreign women married to Pakistani men
aren’t? What world are those who framed the law
and those who are now implementing living in? It
really begs commonsense to find any justification
on this score. As for reciprocity, a state need
not base such grant of citizenship on
reciprocity. The issue should be not whether
another country does or doesn’t allow its
nationals’ spouses similar citizenship rights but
rather to guarantee equal rights under the law to
both Pakistani men and women.
The act, in its current form, is clearly
unconstitutional since the 1973 Constitution
explicitly guarantees equal treatment under the
law to both men and women and it really is
incredible that it (the law) has survived in its
current highly discriminatory form till today.
Apparently, there is a discretionary clause that
permits the government to grant citizenship to
any foreign national. The fact of the matter is
that it is not often exercised. Also, there
should be no need to exercise any such discretion
if the law were equitable, inclusive and unbiased
for all citizens. The federal minister for
parliamentary affairs, Sher Afgan Khan Niazi, has
said that the matter will be referred to the
interior ministry for further consideration.
However, it should be noted that the National
Commission on the Status of Women has already
recommended to the government to amend the act so
one wonders why the matter should be sent to the
interior ministry for “further consideration”.
Besides, mere understanding between the
opposition and treasury benches does not
necessarily mean that the law will be amended,
especially since the minister’s referring it to
the interior ministry seems more of a delaying
tactic than anything else. It is worth pointing
out that in recent days, the same minister has
made somewhat uncharitable remarks against women
in general in parliament and does not seem the
kind of individual who would be a stout defender
of the rights of women. Nevertheless, the
discrimination exhibited under this law is so
blatant and clear-cut that the government should
be able to pass an amendment to it with ease,
enabling the foreign spouses of Pakistani women
to become eligible for citizenship.