The Pakistan Election Commission has decided to grant voting rights in the next election to overseas Pakistanis. Ruling upon a request received by Friends of Pakistan (FOP), Kanwar Mohammad Dilshad, Secretary of the Pakistan Election Commission, instructed officials to make all necessary preparations to enable members of the overseas Pakistani community to cast their votes. “The Election Commission will provide us with a voters list taken from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). However, the database contains information collected in a census conducted in Pakistan once every ten years, and expatriates are not included in the census,” said Nasrullah Watto, Welfare Consul at the Pakistani Consulate here. Watto said that overseas Pakistanis should acquire their NICOP card in order to be registered in NADRA. “We cannot expect a complete database of overseas Pakistanis, since there are many Pakistanis who are overstayers and have an irregular residency status and will, therefore, not be able to vote here,” he told Saudi Gazette. Dilshad said that the Election Commission has already asked for the details of overseas Pakistanis living in countries around the world and the issue will be taken up after receiving those details. Overseas citizens of countries, such as, China, Germany and Italy have representation in their nation's parliament. The Federal Minister for overseas Pakistanis, Dr. Farooq Sattar, has stated that overseas Pakistanis will be given seats in the nation's parliament and senate. Khalid Mahmood Chaudhry, an executive member of the board of governors of the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF), intends to further discuss the issue of overseas voting on March 31 when he will meet with Dr. Sattar. “Dr. Sattar vowed to provide overseas voting rights when he took charge of his new ministry,” Chaudhry told Saudi Gazette. Chaudhry spoke appreciatively of the efforts of Friends of Pakistan in gaining voting rights for the Pakistani community in Saudi Arabia. Friends of Pakistan is a non-profit, nongovernmental and non-political community-based organization which aims to provide a platform to overseas Pakistanis at the grassroots level to strengthen ties between Pakistan and other countries.
