ISLAMABAD:
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has suspended the membership of as many as 154 lawmakers over failure to submit a statement of their assets and liabilities that is required by the top electoral body at each year’s end.
Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Minister Fehmida Mirza, Science-Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Haider Zaidi and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui are among the parliamentarians whose memberships have been suspended, according to an ECP notification, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune.
According to Section 137(1) of the Elections Act, 2017, lawmakers are required to submit a statement of their assets and liabilities, as well as those of their spouses and dependent children, by December 31 each year.
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Moreover, membership of three senators – Musadik Malik, Kamran Michael, and Shamim Afridi – has also been suspended.
As per the ECP, membership of three MPs of Senate, 48 lawmakers of the National Assembly, 52 of Punjab Assembly, 26 of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, 19 of the Sindh Assembly and six of Balochistan Assembly has been suspended.
Informing upper and lower houses of parliament of the development, the ECP said that lawmakers cannot participate in parliamentary proceedings and their membership will remain suspended until they submit their respective statements.
The notification reads that as many as 1,031 parliamentarians – out of the total 1,195 of the august parliament – have so far submitted their statements of assets and liabilities.
It is pertinent to mention that at the start of this year, the electoral body as per its tradition had given 15 more days to the lawmakers for submission of asset details and 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.”
Reacting to the development, the maritime affairs minister said he had filed his taxes on December 28 and submitted his asset declaration form on January 5. “Don’t understand the fuss!” he said in a tweet.
Moreover, the 26 K-P MPAs suspended also include five ministers. The names of the suspended MPAs are as under: Hidyatur Rehman, Sahibzada Sanaullah, Humayun Khan, Musawir Khan, Shaukat Ali, Syed Ahmad Hussain Shah, Muhammad Idrees, Arbab Muhammad Wasim Khan, Arbab Jahandad Khan, Wajidullah Khan, Kamran Khan Bangash, Amjad Khan Afridi, Pakthoon Yar Khan, Hisham Inamullah, Aghaz Ikramullah Gandapur, Abbasur Rehman, Syed Iqbal Mian, Syed Ghazi Ghazan Jamal, Muhammad Iqbal Khan, Naseerullah Khan, Muhammad Shoaib, Maliha Ali Asghar Khan, Maria Fatima, Sobia Shahid, Anita Mehsud and Wazir Zada.
Talking to The Express Tribune, a government official said that after the suspension of membership by the ECP, the K-P Assembly adjourned its session till January 25 in order to provide its members ample time to submit the statements of the assets and liabilities.
“Members can’t attend the assembly session if their membership is suspended that is why the K-P Assembly ended its session in emergency,” he added.
Almost every year, the commission suspends the membership of scores of lawmakers for not submitting the statement. Last year, over 300 lawmakers had failed to submit their asset details. (WITH INPUT FROM AHTASHAM BASHIR IN PESHAWAR)
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