Snapshot of Statelessness in Pakistan 11. There are no reliable statistics on the statelessness population in Pakistan, with massively divergent estimates being put forward by different government sources. For example, according to official Pakistani government data presented to UNHCR, there were 47 stateless people the country in 2020.17 In a 2021 article on COVID vaccinations however, a senior government health official estimated the stateless population at 3 million.18 There are large groups of undocumented people in the country, many of whom are stateless or at risk of statelessness. There is a reported population of between 400,00019 and 500,000 Rohingya refugees,20 almost a million undocumented members of the ethnic Bengali community, around 775,000 undocumented Afghans, Biharis and other undocumented groups in Pakistan.21 12. The citizenship law of Pakistan operates through both jus sanguinis (by descent) and jus soli (by birth on the territory) provisions. Jus sanguinis provisions provide that a child born in Pakistan to a Pakistani parent (regardless of how the parent obtained citizenship) is a citizen by descent. Further, if the child is born outside Pakistan to a Pakistani citizen by birth, the child automatically acquires Pakistani citizenship. If the child is born outside Pakistan to a citizen by descent, the child is not a citizen till the birth is registered.22 Pakistan’s jus soli provisions have been interpreted to provide citizenship to all children born on the territory of Pakistan, except those whose fathers have diplomatic immunity, or are enemies or aliens (despite the terminology used being “enemy aliens”).23 This provision is therefore gender discriminatory. The narrow interpretation of the jus soli provision results in the exclusion of children born to foreigners (or ‘aliens’) in the territory, unless one parent is Pakistani, in which case they can access citizenship through descent.24 13. The communities or groups that are either stateless or at the risk of statelessness can be categorized into four types: ethnic Bengalis, Afghan refugees, Urdu speaking Biharis and Rohingyas. It is important to note that the Afghan refugees and the Rohingyas have 17 UNHCR, ‘Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2020’, Annex, Table 5, [Available at <https://www.unhcr.org/2020-global-trends-annex-table-statelessness>] accessed July 13, 2022. 18 Aamir Saeed, ‘Pakistan says will solve tough problem of vaccinating over 3 million stateless people, Arab News Online, 26 May 2021, available at: https://www.arabnews.pk/node/1865021/pakistan 19 Zia Ur Rehman, ‘Bengali and Rohingya Leaders Gearing up for LG Polls,’ The News, (Online, 14 August 2015) https://web.archive.org/web/20150814203153/http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-333213-Bengaliand-Rohingya-leaders-gearing-up-for-LG-polls, accessed July 13, 2022. 20 Usman Ahmad, ‘Pakistan’s Rohingya Hypocrisy,’ The Diplomat, (Online, 20 September 2017) <https://thediplomat.com/2017/09/pakistans-rohingya-hypocrisy/>, accessed July 13, 2022. 21 See UNHCR, ‘Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2019’; UNHCR, ‘Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2020.’ Reuters has estimated that there are 300,000 Rohingya in Pakistan, Saad Sayeed and Syed Raza Hassan, ‘Rohingya Refugees in Pakistan Fear for Relatives in Myanmar’, Reuters, (Online, 10 September 2017), <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-royingya-pakistan-idUSKCN1BL0B4> accessed July 13, 2022; The New York Times estimated 500,000 Rohingya in Myanmar, Mahreen Zahra-Malik, ‘Far From Myanmar Violence, Rohingya in Pakistan Are Seething’, The New York Times, (Online, 12 September 2017), <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/12/world/asia/rohingya-pakistan-myanmar-violence.html> accessed July 13, 2022; The Rohingya Project has estimated 350,000 Rohingya in Myanmar, The Rohingya Project, <https://rohingyaproject.com/> accessed July 13, 2022; CNN has estimated that there are 55,000 Rohingya living in Pakistan, Sophia Saaifi, ‘Pakistan’s Stateless Rohingya’, CNN, (Online, 11 September 2017), <https://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/11/asia/pakistan-stateless-rohingya/index.html>, accessed July 13, 2022. 22 The Pakistan Citizenship Act (1951) s 5. 23 The Pakistan Citizenship Act (1951) s 4. 24 Faryal Nazir, ‘Report on Citizenship Law: Pakistan’, EUDO Citizenship Observatory, (Report, December 2016), at 4–5. 4