ISLAMABAD, March 27: The National Telecommunication Corporation has provided to the Election Commission of Pakistan a list of the senators and members of the now dissolved National Assembly who had not paid their telephone bills.

The list includes prominent names and the numbers installed in important offices, including the chairman of the public accounts committee, chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate, offices of several ministers apart from the numbers in personal use of ministers and parliamentarians.

A total of 449 operational telephone numbers and internet connections have been placed in the default category with an amount of Rs9.56m pending against senators and former MNAs.

The list, which was compiled last month, contains old record because several parliamentarians cleared their bills before leaving their office or official residences.

The ECP may declare a parliamentarian defaulter if he failed to clear any utility bill amounting to Rs10,000 and above.

According to the list, 56 senators and former MNAs have telephone bills of over Rs10,000.

Prominent among them are speaker of the dissolved National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza (Rs34,642), former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf (Rs628,874), former deputy prime minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi (Rs26,897), former finance minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh (Rs33,136), former interior minister Rehman Malik (Rs138,515), former commerce minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim (Rs37,434), former information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira (Rs12,576), former minister for water and power Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar (Rs86,225), former communications minister Arbab Alamgir Khan (Rs128,727), former minister of state for industries Ayatullah Durrani (Rs110,059), former chairman of the Public Accounts Committee Nadeem Afzal Chan (Rs31,034), Dr Azra Fazal Pacheho (Rs12,703), Dr Asim Hussain (Rs12,207), Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan (Rs147,869), Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan (Rs80,229), Ishaq Dar (Rs12,046), Maulana Fazlur Rehman (Rs52,931), Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo (Rs269,880), Raza Rabbani (Rs64,407), Sardar Ayaz Sadiq (Rs31,331), Sumsam Ali Bukhari (Rs30,142), Dr Farooq Sattar (Rs213,269) Khurram Dastgir Khan (Rs72,920), Faisal Karim Kundi (Rs126,079), Talha Mehmood (Rs22,574), Sardar Faiz Tamman (Rs133,834), Ismail Bulaidi (Rs63,565), Aftab Sherpao (Rs13,639), Ishaq Khakwani (Rs149,366), Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri (Rs104,121), Abbas Khan Afridi (Rs11,277), Abdul Haseeb Khan (Rs60,405), Babar Khan Ghauri (Rs25,958), Hasil Khan Bizenjo (Rs12,137), Abdul Nabi Bangash (R54,839), Anousha Rehman Khan (Rs12,720), Ayaz Amir (Rs20,063), and Chaudhry Birjees Tahir (Rs27,129).

A large number of former MNAs have criticised the NTC because its list contains mistakes.

“This is nonsense and a conspiracy against politicians. I will approach court over it,” said former PPP MNA Noor Alam Khan, who showed his paid bills.

Nadeem Afzal Gondal said he had cleared his personal bill, adding that “the list should categorise the department concerned, not the person, as defaulter”.

The NTC numbers are allotted to government offices and residences, but parliamentarians and government officers can obtain these numbers starting with digit ‘9’ as personal number and they are to clear the bill.

The ministry of water and power also sent a list of 360 lawmakers who have defaulted on electricity bills.The list includes former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, former deputy prime minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, former interior minister Abdur Rehman Malik, former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, speaker of the dissolved National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Manzoor Wattoo, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Ishaq Dar, Dr Azra Fazal Pacheho, Aftab Sherpao, Afrasiab Khattak, Shahi Syed, Ilyas Bilour, Babar Ghauri, Nasreen Jalil, Hasil Bizenjo, Latif Khosa and Nazar Gondal.

An ECP official told Dawn that those who did not clear their dues before filing their nomination papers would be disqualified, but the decision would be taken by the returning officer concerned.