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National Assembly. Photo: File
ISLAMABAD:
The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Home Affairs on Tuesday adjourned the Pakistan Citizenship Bill 2025 after extensive deliberations and sought input from relevant authorities before moving ahead.
During the session, held at Parliament House under the chairmanship of Raja Khurram Nawaz, committee members and officials expressed disagreement over key issues including citizenship, national identity cards and deadlines for migrants from post-1971 East Pakistan.
Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry emphasized that the bill must ultimately be passed by the National Assembly and that its final approval rests with the country’s political leadership.
He called on all political parties to engage in dialogue and reach an agreement to resolve the sensitive issue. “All political parties should sit together to create unanimity,” he said.
Committee member Qadir Patel highlighted that migration to Pakistan is still ongoing, making issues of citizenship particularly sensitive. He called for careful consideration of the legal framework to avoid further complications for incoming migrants.
The committee approved the Islamabad Senior Citizenship Bill 2025, introduced by Sharmila Farooqi, which proposes that senior citizens aged 60 and above receive special concessions and discounts based on their existing identity card, eliminating the need for a separate senior citizen card.
Under the bill, senior citizens would be entitled to a 25% discount on various public and private services. Farooqi stressed that this initiative would provide tangible relief to senior citizens without creating additional bureaucratic hurdles.
Nabeel Gabol, another committee member, highlighted the need to consult NADRA and noted that biometric verification can sometimes be a challenge for citizens above 60 as fingerprints may not always be clear.
Minister Talal Chaudhry added that the benefits of the bill should extend beyond Islamabad and be implemented across the country. “If this is a good bill, it should be applied across the country,” he said.
The Pakistan Citizenship Bill 2025, presented by Khawaja Izharul Hassan, was also reviewed in detail. Hassan reminded the committee that a significant number of people had voluntarily migrated from East Pakistan in 1971, yet many citizens in Karachi and other cities remain without national identity cards.
He noted that the third generation of these migrants have now reached adulthood in Pakistan, but citizenship challenges remain.
