Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951 — section 16

16. Deprivation of citizenship..—(1) A citizen of Pakistan shall cease to be a citizen of Pakistan if he is deprived of that citizenship by an order under the next following sub-sections.

(2)Subject to the provisions of this section the 1[Federal Government] may by order deprive any such citizen of his citizenship if it is satisfied that he obtained his certificate of domicile or certificate of naturalisation 2[under the Naturalisation Act, 1926] by means of fraud, false representation or the concealment of any material fact, or if his certificate of naturalization 2[under the naturalization Act, 1926] is revoked.

(3)Subject to the provisions of this section the 1[Federal Government] may by order deprive any person who is a citizen of Pakistan by naturalisation of his citizenship of Pakistan if it is satisfied that that citizen

(a)has shown himself by any act or speech to be disloyal or disaffected to the Constitution of Pakistan; or

(b)has, during a war in which Pakistan is or has been engaged, unlawfully traded or communicated with the enemy or engaged in or associated with any business that was to his knowledge carried on in such a manner as to assist the enemy in that war; or

(c)has within five years of being naturalised been sentenced in any country to imprisonment for a term of not less than twelve months.

(4)The 1[Federal Government] may on an application being made or on its own motion by order deprive any citizen of Pakistan of his citizenship if it is satisfied that he has been ordinarily resident in a country outside Pakistan for a continuous period of seven years 2[beginning not earlier than the commencement of this Act] and during that period has neither

(i)been at any time in the service of any Government in Pakistan or of an international organisation of which Pakistan has, at any time during that period been a member; nor

(ii)registered annually in the prescribed manner at a Pakistan Consulate or Mission or in a country where there is no Pakistan Consulate or Mission 2[at the prescribed Consulate or Mission or] at a Pakistan Consulate or Mission in a country nearest to the country of his residence his intention to retain Pakistan Citizenship.

(5)The 1[Federal Government] shall not make an order depriving a person of citizenship under this section unless it is satisfied that it is in the public interest that that person should not continue to be a citizen of Pakistan.

(6)Before making an order under this section the 1[Federal Government] shall give the person against whom it is proposed to make the order notice in writing informing him of the grounds on which it is proposed to make the order and calling upon him to show cause why it should not be made. 1 Subs. by Act No. XLVIII of 1973, s. 3. 2 Ins. by Act No. V of 1952, s. 8.

(7)If it is proposed to make the order on any of the grounds specified in sub-sections (2) and

(3)of this section and the person against whom it is proposed to make the order applies in the prescribed manner for an inquiry, the 1[Federal Government] shall, and in any other case may, refer the case to a committee of inquiry consisting of a chairman, being a person possessing judicial experience, appointed by the 1[Federal Government] and of such other members appointed by the 1 [Federal Government] as it thinks proper. 2