MARGAO
The Portuguese passport and citizenship tangle has come to haunt the ruling BJP dispensation in Goa.
Claiming that Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira had registered his birth in Portugal in 2001, former Minister Mickky Pacheco on Saturday said people of Goa want to know from the government whether Sequeira had got his registration in Portugal cancelled before he contested the Assembly polls and before his induction in the BJP-led government.
Mickky has set the Goa government one month time to come clear on Sequeira’s birth registration in Portugal and whether the same has been cancelled as on date, disclosing plans to knock the doors of the Judiciary for a detailed probe into the issue.
Sequeira, however, was not available for his comments despite calls made on his cell phone.
Displaying an alleged registration document titled Conservatoria Dos Registos Centrais dated 2001, Mickky told media that the document allegedly sheds light that Aleixo Antonio da Piedade Sequeira’s birth was registered in Portugal in 2001. “My question and the question of the people of Goa for the Nuvem MLA and Environment Minister is simple, whether or not Sequeira had registered his birth in Portugal in 2001 and whether the same has been cancelled by the MLA before contesting the Assembly election and before his induction in the Pramod Sawant Cabinet”, Mickky said.
He said the Nuvem MLA should answer these questions or else the government should use its official channels to obtain all details on Sequeira’s birth registration in Portugal and whether he has cancelled the registration since then.
When asked if he is ready to prove and confirm that Sequeira had registered his birth in Portugal in 2001, Mickky shot back “I have made a claim based on a document the Nuvem MLA had registered his birth in Portugal in 2001. Now, the onus is on Sequeira or the Goa government to obtain all the details and place them before the people of Goa about the factual situation whether the Minister had registered his birth in Portugal or has cancelled the same”, he said.
Saying that citizens of the country are equal before the law, Mickky said if the Passport Officer has revoked the Indian Passports of 70 Goans just because they had registered their births in Portugal, the same law should apply to everyone, including Ministers and MLAs.
He added: “I have produced a document before the media for the consideration of the government. It is now for the government to find out whether Sequeira had registered his birth in Portugal in 2001 or has since cancelled the registration”.
Mickky hastened to add that if the Nuvem MLA has not cancelled his birth registration in Portugal, then it would amount to a Portuguese citizen holding a Ministerial berth in the Goa government in violation of the established law.
“I want to know how the Goa government interprets the registration of names in Portugal. As far as I know, one automatically becomes a Portuguese citizen no sooner he or she registers his birth in Portugal. Portuguese passport is not an issue I am raising here since a passport is just a travel document. My one point question is whether Sequeira had registered his birth in Portugal and whether the same stands registered or has been cancelled by the Nuvem MLA”, Mickky asserted.
