PTI government has once again mobilized efforts to grant overseas Pakistanis the right of voting and decided in principle to start the process of their registration. Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) will jointly start the registration programme.
The matter of granting voting rights to overseas Pakistanis is under active discussion for a long time and as a pilot project they also exercised this right in the by-elections of October 2018 through i-voting on the special directions of the Supreme Court. The next step definitely is to ensure their participation in the next general election for which their timely registration is very important. Special Assistant on Overseas Pakistanis Sayed Zulfiqar Abbass Bukhari really deserves applauds for actively working to protect the rights of the expatriates. Ever since assuming the office, he has been seen engaging with the Pakistani Diaspora as well as the leadership of their host countries to get the problems faced by Pakistani community addressed. Most recently one saw him making untiring efforts to bring back the stranded Pakistanis from different parts of the world in the wake of breakout of Coronavirus. Given the concerns shown by Zulfi for expatriates, we are confident that he will leave no stone unturned to achieve what others failed to do in the past. It is important that the registration process does not miss any expatriate plus modus operandi of their voting must also be framed very carefully so that nobody could raise finger on the transparency of their ballot. These expatriates have time and again proved to be a precious asset for Pakistan. Their remittances worth billions of dollars are an important source of foreign exchange. In the hour of need also, they have shown the large heartedness and one saw it most recently in Ehsaas Telethon where they immensely donated funds for the people affected by Coronavirus. These expatriates are as much Pakistanis as any other living in the country. Rather their love and affection for Pakistan is much greater and it is time to fulfil the promises made with them. There should be no politics on the matter of voting right.
