In Pakistan, jailed for being Canadian

Akhtar Buland Rana, a former auditor general of Pakistan, was jailed this week for concealing the fact that he is a Canadian.

According to Pakistani media, Rana was handed a sixmonth prison sentence after it was found that he had deliberately concealed his Canadian identity while obtaining multiple Pakistani passports. It follows only two weeks after a similar — although less severe — case in which Australian senator Larissa Waters was forced to resign after she learned she was a Canadian.

Waters was born in Winnipeg, but moved to Australia as a baby. Unaware that her Canadian birth had given her automatic citizenship, she was unwittingly in violation of the Australian constitution’s ban against parliamentarians who hold dual citizenship.

Holding dual citizenship is generally forbidden in Pakistan, and is specifically barred for members of Parliament. While Canada is one of 18 countries for which dual citizenship is allowed, a probe by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency concluded that Rana broke the law by concealing his Canadian identity on several government forms.

Rana “never declared his other nationality” and did so “wrongfully and with mala fide intentions,” the agency told a Pakistani court, according to Pakistan’s Express Tribune.

Rana’s Canadian citizenship has been known ever since his 2011 appointment, when then-president Asif Ali Zardari told reporters that it would not interfere with his duties.

However, critics at the time countered they could not trust a man who had taken the Canadian citizenship oath to “be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada.”

“A situation may well arise where as a Canadian citizen the Auditor-General of Pakistan may be influenced ... in discharging his duties,” wrote columnist Arshad Zaman.

Rana was ultimately fired in 2015 following a corruption investigation finding that, among other things, he had collected an excessive salary. A Pakistan government statement at the time wrote that he “has committed misconduct on numerous occasions.”

As early as January, 2016, a “non-bailable” warrant was issued for Rana’s arrest and raids were reportedly conducted in the Pakistani capital. When Rana did not turn up, this led to press allegations that he had gone into hiding. At the same time, immigration authorities prohibited Rana from leaving the country, asserting that it was standard procedure for citizens who had submitted a false passport application.

In a 2016 petition before the Islamabad High Court, however, Rana maintained that his passport applications were lawful, and said his legal problems began soon after he questioned the debt policies of Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Sharif, incidentally, stepped down Friday after the country’s Supreme Court ruled corruption allegations made him ineligible to govern.

In contrast to both Pakistan and Australia, Canada freely allows dual citizenship even for top elected officials. NDP leader Thomas Mulcair’s French citizenship, for instance, would not have disqualified him from becoming prime minister. Former Conservative MP Wajid Khan is a dual national of Pakistan.

Worldwide, dual nationality parliamentarians are generally the exception. Countries typically bar dual or foreign nationals from elected positions for fear of foreign influence. Most famously, the U.S. presidency is barred to anyone who can’t prove U.S. citizenship from birth.

Alleged Canadianness has dogged at least one U.S. president, Chester Arthur, and one presidential candidate, Ted Cruz.

Akhtar Buland Rana