Voting inherent right of overseas Pakistanis

Ironically the successive governments in Pakistan have been denying the voting rights to overseas Pakistani. They are considered less patriotic because they bid farewell to their homeland to lead a better life.

This is spreading disinformation because: 1) they were denied better remuneration and 2) the law and order situation has been getting from bad to worse.

Today, I want to let every Pakistani know that overseas Pakistanis are the real saviors. At an average the country has been receiving around US$1.2 billion from the IMF and the amount has to be repaid, as against this overseas Pakistanis have been remitting more than US$24 billion per annum.

According to the latest information released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) during February 2024 overseas Pakistanis have remitted US$2.2 billion. 

Regretfully the SBP press release highlighted “During February 24, remittances decreased by 6.2%MoM but reluctantly admitted 13%YoY increase.

Their contribution demands highest recognition as they remitted over US$18 billion during the first eight months of the current financial year (FY24).

Remittances inflows during February 24 mainly came from Saudi Arabia (US$539.8 million), United Arab Emirates (US$384.7 million), United Kingdom (US$346.0 million) and United States (US$287.4 million).

Since inflow of every US$ is important for Pakistan, the newly elected government must announce an incentive package for the overseas Pakistani. Top the list item should be giving them voting time. The government has 5 years to put the required infrastructure in place. This can’t be done without changing the mind set of policy planners.