Yes, if they want to, they should.
At present, they don’t. Pakistan Citizenship Act currently allows a foreigner girl marrying a Pakistani man to get Pakistani citizenship but not vice versa.
Recently, this question of gender equality got a boost from Federal Shariat Court in Pakistan as they declared the Pakistani Citizenship Act, 1951, to be discriminatory against women. On December 19, 2007, the Federal Shariat Court has asked the president of Pakistan to amend the Pakistan Citizenship Act within six months so that a woman’s foreign husband could get Pakistani citizenship, just like a foreign women married to Pakistani men.
In a 26-page judgment announced by the court, it says:
“We are of the view that Section 10 of the Citizenship
Act is discriminatory, negates gender equality and is in violation of Articles 2-A (Objective Resolution) and 25 (equality of citizens) of the Constitution, also against international commitments of Pakistan and, most importantly, is repugnant to the Holy Quran and Sunnah,â€
According to Dawn news report of December 20, 2007:
The three-member bench comprising FSC Chief Justice Haziqul Khairi, Justice Dr Fida Muhammad Khan and Justice Salahuddin Mirza had taken suo motu notice on a news report in which a woman was denied the right to get Pakistani citizenship for her foreign husband, though the law entitled a man to obtain citizenship for his alien wife.
This same issue was also brought as a legislative bill before the recently out-gone National Assembly on March 18, 2004 but it got killed by the Government after a delibration of two years. The pretext of Government was that a foreign woman marrying a Pakistani man is not same as a foreign man married to a Pakistani woman. Granting citizenship to foreigner men by marrying a Pakistani girl would not only legalize the stay of a large number of illegal immigrants, but would also increase their influx.
The government also stated that the amendment to the current Pakistan Citizenship Act would add to unemployment and a foreign husband, after obtaining the citizenship, could divorce the woman and move around freely in the country.
Besides, in the Government view, it would also be a blanket approval for all foreign nationals to marry Pakistani women and obtain nationality, and majority of them could even misuse this provision, especially Afghan refugees and illegal Bengali and other South Asian immigrants.
I for one, do not agree with above points at all. I believe a family is the unit of society. Government laws should help keeping families together as well as without any gender bias. Laws should be same for both men and women. Therefore in my view the judgment of Federal Shariat Court is the correct one and if acted on, it will go long way in giving equal rights to women and men.
References:
1. Policy for Pakistani Citizenship
2. Paranoia and Patriotism by Irfan Hussain, Dawn, June 17, 2006.
3. MPs for Review of Citizenship Laws: Discrimination Against Women, Dawn, August 25, 2006.
4. Human Righs Commission of Pakistan
Each year the PTDC and the government spend several million dollars trying to lure tourists into Pakistan.The more they try the further they go away.Then they introduced free visa on arrival for most of Europe last year,even then they are not trickling in.
Getting a Pakistani visit visa should be one of the easiest of jobs but few want it.Sad but true.
Obviously there are a lot more issues to work on rather than wasting time on this one.
The only Pakistani girls marrying foreigners are those who are already settled outside Pakistan (generally in US and Europe). No one wants Pakistani Nationality from those areas.
I wonder Paksitan have other very important issues to be discussed by Federal Shariat Court. As Mr Wally stated it takes few hours and few dollars to get a Pakistani visa. No point discussing this issue.
Yes they should but the question is would they want it?
A gallup survey conducted among major universities in Pakistan showed 78% Pakistanis would happily give up their citizenship to take up just any other.It is unfortunate,sad but true.
Lets put it this way,a a European guy decides to marry someone from Pakistan.Would he give up his German,French or Swedish citizenship to take up Pakistani.I guess he would be nuts to do it.
Indeed it should be implemented at the earliest. When in every country of this world you get immigration if you marry the native of that land than why not here. Its totally absurd that giving citizenship to foreign men is to give them a free hand. No, if it had been so than America and Canada would have stopped welcoming immigrants from all over the world.
My wife is Pakistani and I am an American. She is now a dual citizen thanks to our immigration laws. However, I was surpirsed that I have no such rights in Pakistan, even if I were to live there.
I do understand the fears about sham marriages and granting citizenship to millions of migrants. Just look at all the illegal immigrants in the US. Many will find willing woman to get a sham marriage just to be a US citizen.
It’s more an issue of law and order, and perhaps the Pakistani government has enough on its hands already.
Getting a visa to visit Pakistan takes me a few hours and costs around $30. No big deal, for now.
Great topic. Something I have complained about for years, but I was surprised to see the Shariat court opinion.