By Imran Nasir 

ISLAMABAD: The ruling parties of Pakistan on Thursday snatched the voting rights from the overseas Pakistanis through an amendment bill in the parliament.

 The National Assembly of Pakistan passed the amendments bill presented by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), JUI, and other allies which seek to remove the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in general elections as well as disallow overseas Pakistanis from voting. 

The opposition Grand Democratic Alliance members opposed the bill, however, the government easily passed the amendments with majority votes in absence of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party,  Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

 123 members of PTI have already resigned from the parliament after last month's no-confidence vote against Khan, who was ousted by the current over 10 parties alliance.

Khan accused the US of hatching a conspiracy against him and toppling his government through the then opposition alliance. 

PTI was the major party in parliament. 

Khan during his tenure allowed the overseas Pakistani to participate in the elections and vote for their favorite party while he also introduced the electronic voting machine to stop irregularities in the elections. 

According to sources, the current ruling alliance fears that most overseas are supporting Khan and in case of an election, they would support PTI. 

Now, the government will present the amendments before the Senate. 

"Today in the National Assembly of Pakistan, the PMLN, PPP has done injustice. The dearest Pakistanis abroad have been deprived of the right to vote. These Pakistanis send ا30 billion dollars annually from their hard earned money. Pakistanis must respond," Kamran Khan, a senior Pakistani journalist tweeted.

Overseas Pakistani also strongly reacted over the government decision and called it injustice.

"Shameful act..From today onward I will not send a single dollar to my beloved country.I would also request my overseas countrymen to do the same and to repatriate funds from RDA as this corrupt regime started seizing our basic rights," Shoaib Nawaz, a banker in UAE wrote on Twitter.

However, the law minister Azam Nazeer Tarar dispelled the impression that the amendments were aimed at depriving overseas Pakistanis of their right to vote.

"Overseas Pakistanis are a precious asset of the country and the government does not believe in snatching their right to vote," Dawn quoted him as saying.

Meanwhile, the government also made amendments in the National Accountability Law of the country and reduced the power of NAB.

Under the amendments, now National Accountability Authority will not be able to take action against irregularities in development projects. 

The watchdog will also not be able to take action on any regulatory body decision including tax matters. 

While the incumbent chairman also can not be re-appointed.