Short of cash

Statistics show our mainstream parties have limited assets, wonder how they manage to run campaigns or conduct events.

The requirement laid down under the Political Parties Order of 2002 that every political party submit a consolidated, audited statement of its accounts under oath to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), 60 days before the closing of the financial year, has produced some interesting results. As per the law, the ECP has to make these statements public. The statistics that have emerged show that our mainstream parties have extremely limited assets, leaving us to wonder how they actually manage to run such elaborate election campaigns or conduct other events which regularly take place from their platforms.

Of the major parties, the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party- Parliamentarians (PPP-P) — the name under which it is registered with the ECP — is the most strapped for funds. In its statement, it declares it does not hold any immovable property anywhere in the country, while its bank account holds only Rs435,745 for the year ending June 2010, out of which it spent only Rs348 during the whole year. The somewhat richer PML-N had a balance of Rs7.4 million the same year. For the year ending June 2011, the PPP-P stated it had Rs435,397 as its closing balance and spent not a paisa from this the whole year. The PML-N and the PML-Q both appear a little richer, holding more property. Both claim the same house on Margalla Road in Islamabad, though the PML-Q values it at some Rs4 million less than the PML-N. The PML-N claims it has no property in Lahore.

For obvious reasons, these statements are impossible to believe. The one given by the PPP-P is the most ludicrous of all. Through them, the parties lose still further credibility and respect in the eyes of the people. It is extraordinary that their leaders do not realise this. After all, attempting to fool people in this manner only acts against them, while also exhibiting a total lack of respect for the law. The moral bankruptcy we see is hard to digest and goes to show how low our politicians have sunk. This, for our democracy and its standing, is a huge loss.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2013.