No overseas Pakistani should deprive of right to vote: CJP

Supreme Court (SC) has once again directed Attorney General (AG) and Election Commission (EC) to evolve procedure by March 18 to facilitate overseas Pakistanis to exercise their right to vote.

A three-member bench of SC presided over by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took up the case on right to vote to overseas Pakistanis on Friday. During the course of hearing the court remarked that no overseas Pakistani be kept deprived of his right to vote hoping that EC would complete the registration of overseas voters.

Earlier the CJP remarked " at least the votes of the overseas Pakistanis be registered. To which, Munir Paracha counsel for EC said registration of as many as 4.4 million eligible voters has been carried out. Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed observed "they have not included even a single person in overseas list after July, 2012. They have filed wrong statement. What they say verbally is different from what they say in writing.

CJP remarked "we have been asking for implementation of the orders since several days. Now the time is left very short. Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed inquired from Munir Paracha "if he would implement the court's orders after election. If the information about overseas Pakistanis will come to him on foot. He can do nothing after the election schedule comes".