In-focus

Pakistan

Farooq Sattar favours dual nationality demand

Dunya News

Farooq Sattar has said dual nationality holders should be given right to vote and contest elections.

Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis, Farooq Sattar has said that dual nationality holders should be given the right to vote and contest elections in Pakistan.Farooq Sattar, who is accompanying President Zardari during the UN General Assembly session, was speaking at a function organized in his honour in Long Island by the MQM, New York chapter. He said that he will raise the issue of dual-natioanlity holders with Chief Election Commissioner, Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim on return to Pakistan.The minister also said that the differences with the PPP on some points of disagreement had been ironed out and therefore, MQM had taken back the three-day deadline on the assurance of President Zardari. Pakistan, he said, was facing a lot of challenges and there was need to break status-quo.He said mafias were operating in Karachi and were playing with the peace of the city. This, he said, was a conspiracy to disrupt the commercial hub of Pakistan. MQM, as the voice of the common people, will continue to strive for the rights of the poor and against extremist mindset, hea ssured.Earlier, Mr. Sattar also called on President Obamas special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Marc Grossman. He called for rooting out the cause of extremism and, without naming anyone, said that some political parties in Pakistan had extremist elements in their ranks but kept denying it.Mr. Grossman said that the US was committed to long-term cooperation with Pakistan in different sectors. He said that the problems of Pakistan will eventually be solved by the Pakistani people and no external power can fix everything in the longer run.- Contributed by Awais Saleem, Dunya News correspondent in New York
Install Dunya Apps