Islamabad: Even three years after the Supreme Court directed the election authorities to ensure voting rights for millions of Pakistanis living abroad, no viable mechanism has been developed to introduce the facility for expatriates by the 2018 elections.
The Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms tabled its interim report in the parliament this week. The panel kept the issue of voting rights for overseas Pakistanis open for discussion.
The Supreme Court’s bench, headed by then Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, had issued a decree to this effect on May 9, 2013.
The ruling was passed just days before the general elections held on May 13 of the same year, because of which the judgment could not be implemented.
On its part, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) initiated work on various options but failed to arrive at a workable solution.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who heads the main parliamentary committee, said that the discussion for devising a voting mechanism for expatriates would continue, but he was unsure if any tangible method could be worked out.
A proposal suggested setting up polling stations in Pakistani embassies and consulates. This option is workable in a few countries where a limited number of Pakistanis are residing. It emerged that Pakistani consulates cannot set up those facilities in countries where large number of Pakistanis live.
The distance between cities and towns where these Pakistanis live and where consulates are located was also an important issue. It is necessary that Election Day in Pakistan falls on a public holiday in that country.
In some Middle Eastern countries, where a majority of overseas Pakistanis work, democracy, elections and voting are largely alien concepts.
The ECP had asked the Foreign Office to check with governments of these countries if they would allow setting up polling stations for the Pakistani community. The Foreign Office kept mum, indirectly indicating that this would not be possible.
Use of postal ballots was also considered as an option in countries such as the United States. Given the size of the Pakistani community abroad, but this option was also considered unworkable.
