Of the 22 MPAs suspended by the Election Commission on Friday, the ones who are also ministers have disregarded the commission’s orders and continued to work.
The MPAs who also hold portfolios are not sure whether they are allowed to perform their ministerial duties while they are suspended as lawmakers. Given that the Sindh Assembly is not in session, and they are not missing out on their legislative duties, the suspension does not really affect the rest of the work on a daily basis.
Most of these assembly members felt they were not at fault as they could not send details of their assets and liabilities to the Election Commission in time. A few of them held the ECP responsible, saying it “mishandled their case”.
As far as ministers go, Zakat Minister Sajjid Jokhio said he decided to go to work on Saturday. “I am not worried about this news because I have sent [details of] my assets to the Election Commission and the story published in the media is baseless,” the minister told The Express Tribune. “It aims at creating hype.”
When reminded that the stories were based on an ECP report, the minister switched his argument and claimed that the Election Commission must have misquoted his name. According to ECP rules, members of assemblies, parliament and the Senate who are ministers, advisers and even standing committee chairpersons, cannot perform their jobs following the suspension of their membership.
Provincial Election Commissioner Sono Khan Baloch told The Express Tribune that the deadline for submitting assets and liabilities was September 30.They waited till October 15 as most of the members send their details via courier. The chief election commissioner will restore those lawmakers whose asset reports they receive.
Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Shamim Ara Panhwar accepted her error but put the oversight down to the fact that she was busy with relief work in her constituency, Mirpurkhas. “My entire area came under water,” she said. “We really forgot to send the report, I will dispatch them in a couple of days.”
MPA Jam Tamachi Unar, who is also the Sindh Assembly Public Accounts Committee chairman, said that the dates of submission were not clear, also owing to confusion ensuing after the floods.
Unar claimed that as the Federal Board of Revenue had extended the deadline for filing income tax returns after the floods, he assumed that ECP would make the same concession. However, he accepted that he should have checked up on this assumption. “It is our fault because we could not verify the fact,” he said.
“It is understood that, following the suspension order, the members holding public office such as ministers, advisers and standing committee chairmen cannot perform their duties,” said former Election Commission secretary Kanwar Dilshad. “If so, it will be deemed illegal and against the rules.”
He referred to previous suspensions where the members were not even allowed to sit in assembly sessions till their membership was restored. “This is the first time that 231 members have failed to submit their asset reports, which is really strange.”
Pakistan Muslim League-Functional MPA Abdul Sattar Rajput was among the suspended and said that it did not worry him as the ECP issues this kind of report every year. “I don’t care if my membership is suspended,” he said, unfazed. “I know it will be restored soon.”
The ECP spokesman, Afzal Khan, said that the issue could not be resolved until the ECP met with the provincial election commissioners. “This can all be possible following the return of the Chief Election Commissioner, who is leaving for India today (Saturday) on a three-day visit,” he said.
The Election Commission erroneously reported that there were 23 MPAs suspended. However, that number included Ram Singh Sodho, an MPA from Thar who left the country about six months ago after he received death threats.
Suspended Sindh ministers:
Zakat Minister Sajjid Jokhio
Excise and Taxation Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla
Wildlife Minister Daya Ram
Former sport minister Syed Muhammad Ali Shah (currently working minister without portfolio)
Suspended Sindh Assembly Public Account Committee and Law and Parliamentary Affairs chairmen:
Bachal Shah
Tam Tamachi Unar
Syed Bachal Shah
Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2011.
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