Pakistani nationality law

The Pakistani nationality law governs citizenship of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The principal legislation determining nationality, the Pakistan Citizenship Act was passed by the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on 13 April 1951.

Citizenship

Before the creation of Pakistan, its territories were part of the British Indian Empire (which included modern-day India, Bangladesh and Burma) and its people were British subjects. Pakistan was created on 14 August 1947 as a state for Muslims and held the status of a Dominion in the British Commonwealth; it included modern-day Bangladesh, which was known as East Bengal and East Pakistan and became independent from Pakistan in 1971. Upon independence from British colonial rule, several millions of Muslims emigrated to Pakistan from India, and several millions of Hindus and Sikhs who had been residing in what became Pakistan emigrated to India, raising a number of citizenship issues.

Pakistani Citizenship Act 1951

The Pakistan Citizenship Act 1951 (also known as “Pakistan Citizenship Act 1951 (II of 1951)) was enacted on the 13th of April, 1951; stating the purpose of it is "to make provision for citizenship of Pakistan". The Act has since then been amended (1952, 1972, 1973, 2000) and there are still some more amendments that might be added. This Act referred to ways in which a person could gain Pakistani citizenship and how a person could lose or be denied their citizenship. The Act is divided into 23 sections each one outlining a different provision of citizenship.

The main sections of concern for gaining citizenship are

• Section 3 - Citizenship at the date of commencement of this Act : At the commencement of this Act every person shall be deemed to be a citizen of Pakistan:

• People whose parents or grandparents were born in what is now considered Pakistan (after August 14, 1947).
• People whose parents or grandparents were born in the territory know as India on March 31, 1973

OR

• People who were naturalized as a British subject in Pakistan
• People who migrated to the territory of Pakistan before this Act

• Section 4 - Citizenship by birth : Anyone born in Pakistan after this Act is a Pakistani Citizen

Except if the father is considered an enemy of the state or the father has immunity from legal process

• Section 5 – Citizenship by descent: If one parent has Pakistani Citizenship then a person born to that parent may also get citizenship.
• Section 6- Citizenship by Migration: If a person migrates from an Indo-Pakistan sub-continent with the intention of permanently residing then they may receive citizenship

If he is a man, his wife and children may get Pakistani citizenship as well.

Sections concerning denied or renouncing citizenship are

• Section 14 – Dual Citizenship or nationality not permitted: if you hold a citizenship outside of Pakistan the Pakistani citizenship is terminated
  • Unless one decides to renounce the other
  • Unless one has citizenship in Britain or it’s colonies
  • Unless one is a female married to a man who is not a Pakistani Citizen
• Section 14A – Renunciation of citizenship: If a person pledges allegiance or becomes a citizen of another country they have forfeited their Pakistani citizenship
  • The exception is if a child (under the age of 21) who does not have his pakistani citizenship and would like to resume it after turning 21 is allowed to do so.
• Section 16 – Deprivation of Citizenship: One may be deprived or stripped of citizenship if:
  • Citizenship was obtained by false information
  • The person in question has acted disloyal to the country
  • One has been engaging with the enemy during times of war
• Section 16A – Certain Persons to lose and others to retain citizenship: regarding the times before and after December 16, 1971and people residing in what was previously East Pakistan
  • One is no longer a citizen if he/she is voluntarily residing in or migrated to the area now known as Bangladesh on December 16, 1971
  • One is still a citizen if he/she voluntarily stayed or moved to West Pakistan on December 16, 1971

Amendments to the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951

The Pakistan Citizenship Act 1951 rapidly underwent amendments since it was in acted on April 13, 1951. Some of these amendments were due to the fact that the original Act seemed somewhat incomplete, so the Pakistan Citizenship Rules 1952 were introduced. But also in 1971 Pakistan and Bangladesh separated and citizenship needed to be readdressed for that time, and Kashmir has also been an ongoing conflict and that needed to be addressed in the Act as well.

The Amendment that was focused on the Kashmir conflict is Section 14B. In this section it is stated that if someone from the State of Jammu and Kashmir decided to migrate to Pakistan and live there till the conflict is over then the person can receive Pakistani citizenship. The amendment that is focused on the Bangladesh and Pakistan issue is Section 16A; this amendment is a part of the Pakistan Citizenship (Amendment) Ordinance 1978. This amendment states anyone who on December 16, 1971 was not in West Pakistan has lost their citizenship, even if they were not in East Pakistan either that day.

The Pakistan Citizenship Act 1951 (II of 1951) has been undergoing amendments more recently as well. One of the amendment attempts is by Bushra Gohar, to attempt to change the wordings of Section 10 in the Act (Married Women). The proposal is to change the heading to Married Persons and make it so that the section applies to more than just women. Another amendment that has been made is to Section 16B, regarding the Bangladesh separation. Shahnaz Saleem has suggested that the part of the section regarding people that were outside the Pakistan and Bangladesh border on December 16, 1971 should be removed. She states that there were many people escaping the war and trying to flee to West Pakistan but had to travel outside of the borders to reach there. She proposes that these people get the opportunity to naturalize again.

Dual nationality agreements

Since independence, the growth of expatriate Pakistani communities in the Middle East, Europe and North America has led to several changes in Pakistani nationality law. Although holding dual citizenship was not permitted under the 1951 law, the Government of Pakistan now recognizes and allows its citizens to also hold the citizenships of 16 countries:

1. United Kingdom
2. Italy
3. France
4. Belgium
5. Iceland
6. Australia
7. New Zealand
8. Sweden
9. United States
10. Ireland
11. Netherlands
12. Switzerland
13. Canada
14. Egypt
15. Jordan
16. Syria

Controversial issues

Both Pakistan and India lay claim to the disputed region of Kashmir, which has been the subject of numerous wars between the two countries. The Pakistani Citizenship Act of 1951 allowed persons who were subjects of the state of Jammu and Kashmir to travel under a Pakistani passport and be considered a citizen of Pakistan without prejudice.

The independence of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971 led to the abandonment in the Bengali-majority state of around half a million "Stranded Pakistanis", who traced their ethno-linguistic heritage to the Bihar region. Despite official promises, Bangladesh has not accepted them nor does it recognise them as citizens.

As a fallout of the Afghan civil war, more than ten million Afghans, mainly Pashtuns, became refugees in Pakistan who are not given Pakistani nationality.

See also

• Pakistani passport
• Indian nationality law
• British nationality law
• Bangladeshi nationality law