ISLAMABAD: Of the 1,195 lawmakers belonging to parliament and four provincial assemblies, 394 legislators, including as many as eight ministers, have failed to submit their statements of assets to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) even after the expiry of the deadline, but their membership will not be suspended because a grace period of 15 days has been granted to them.

The ECP has warned that if the public representatives do not provide their statements of assets by January 16, their membership of the respective national or provincial assembly or the Senate will be suspended.

In all, 791 lawmakers have filed their statements of assets to the ECP, whereas 10 seats across the country are vacant.

Among the cabinet members who have not submitted their statements of assets to the Election Commission, are federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, Special Assistant to the PM on CDA Ali Nawaz Awan (both MNAs from Islamabad), Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood, Minister for Climate Change Zartaj Gul, Minister for Ports and Shipping Syed Ali Haider Zaidi, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhary, Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri, Minister for States and Frontier Regions Sahibzada Mohammad Mehboob Sultan and Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar.

Dr Fehmida Mirza, a minister who belongs to the Grand Democratic Alliance, former cabinet member Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and former minister Aamer Mehmood Kiyani have also not filed details of their assets so far.

Nine cabinet members, Shehbaz Sharif among those having failed to meet legal obligation

Prominent among the parliamentary secretaries who have not filed their statements of assets are Maleeka Ali Bokhari, Kanwal Shauzab, Aliya Hamza Malik, Attaullah, Saleh Mohammad, Mohammad Iqbal Khan and Saifur Rehman.

Fourteen senators in the house of 104 have also not fulfilled their obligations. They include Raza Rabbani, Mir Kabir Ahmed, Dr Ashok Kumar, Musadik Malik, Ayesha Raza Farooq, Kamran Michael, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Syed Mohammad Ali Shah Jamot, Mohammad Ali Khan Saif, Anwar Lal Dean, Rana Mahmoodul Hassan, Liaqat Khan Tarakai, Shammim Afridi and Mirza Mohammad Afridi.

With one vacant seat, 89 other senators have, however, submitted their statements of assets to the ECP.

Among the members of the National Assembly, Leader of the Opposition Mohammad Shehbaz Sharif, too, has not filed his statement of assets, besides veteran parliamentarian Akhtar Mengal, PPP’s Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Syed Naveed Qamar and Hina Rabbani Khar and former minister Khurrum Dastgir Khan.

Similarly, Chaudhry Mehmood Bashir Virk, Shaza Fatima Khawaja and Maiza Hameed of the PML-N and Naz Baloch of the PPP are among other legislators who have failed to meet the legal requirement.

Of the 371 seats in the Punjab Assembly, two are vacant and 225 members have submitted their statements of their to the ECP, while 144 others, including former federal minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, have yet to fulfil their legal obligations.

Out of 168 members of the Sindh Assembly, 48 have yet to submit details of their assets to the ECP.

Fifty MPAs of the 145-member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly have also not met the legal requirement so far.

In the 65-member Balochistan Assembly, 26 lawmakers have failed to submit their statements of assets to the Election Commission.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2021