Delayed action: Poll body bars 26 lawmakers from working
ECP has sent letters to Senate chairman, NA speaker and provincial assemblies.
National Assembly of Pakistan. PHOTO: APP
ISLAMABAD:
Almost a week after the deadline for mandatory declaration of assets lapsed, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday barred over two dozen lawmakers from working.
The suspended lawmakers include two senators, three MNAs and 21 MPAs: four from Punjab, nine from Sindh, seven from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and one from Balochistan.
The ECP sent letters to the speakers of national and provincial assemblies and the Senate chairman to bar these members from working.
The weak and vague provision that seeks lawmakers to declare their wealth every year was inserted in the Representation of the People Act 1976, in 2002. However, since its introduction, it has never been implemented and widely flouted by lawmakers.
Even those who blatantly violate the law have no penalty except that they are considered ‘non-functional’. The day they file their statements, the notification of suspension is withdrawn, irrespective of whether the statements are true or false. Those who have been barred include two senators, Faisal Raza Abidi of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Syed Mustafa Kamal of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, and MNAs Abdul Rehman Khan Kanju, Shah Jahan Baloch and Alizeh Iqbal Haider.
Punjab Assembly members who have been barred from working include Masood Shafqat, Ali Abbas, Waheed Asghar Dogar, while Dr Shama Ishaq Baloch is the only member stopped from working in the Balochistan Assembly.
Nine members from the Sindh Assembly include Haji Rauf Khan Khosa, Ghulam Rasool Khan Jatoi, Syed Faseeh Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Ali Bhutto, Aziz Ahmed Jato, Bashir Ahmed Halepoto, Jameel Ahmed Bhurgari, Saniya, Mukesh Kumar Chawla.
MPAs from the K-P Assembly include Muhammad Arif, Muhammad Khan Bahadur, Muhammad Zahid Durrani, Iftikhar Ali Mushwani, Ziaullah Khan Bangash, Shah Faisal Khan and Sardar Zahoor.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2013.
Almost a week after the deadline for mandatory declaration of assets lapsed, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday barred over two dozen lawmakers from working.
The suspended lawmakers include two senators, three MNAs and 21 MPAs: four from Punjab, nine from Sindh, seven from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and one from Balochistan.
The ECP sent letters to the speakers of national and provincial assemblies and the Senate chairman to bar these members from working.
The weak and vague provision that seeks lawmakers to declare their wealth every year was inserted in the Representation of the People Act 1976, in 2002. However, since its introduction, it has never been implemented and widely flouted by lawmakers.
Even those who blatantly violate the law have no penalty except that they are considered ‘non-functional’. The day they file their statements, the notification of suspension is withdrawn, irrespective of whether the statements are true or false. Those who have been barred include two senators, Faisal Raza Abidi of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Syed Mustafa Kamal of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, and MNAs Abdul Rehman Khan Kanju, Shah Jahan Baloch and Alizeh Iqbal Haider.
Punjab Assembly members who have been barred from working include Masood Shafqat, Ali Abbas, Waheed Asghar Dogar, while Dr Shama Ishaq Baloch is the only member stopped from working in the Balochistan Assembly.
Nine members from the Sindh Assembly include Haji Rauf Khan Khosa, Ghulam Rasool Khan Jatoi, Syed Faseeh Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Ali Bhutto, Aziz Ahmed Jato, Bashir Ahmed Halepoto, Jameel Ahmed Bhurgari, Saniya, Mukesh Kumar Chawla.
MPAs from the K-P Assembly include Muhammad Arif, Muhammad Khan Bahadur, Muhammad Zahid Durrani, Iftikhar Ali Mushwani, Ziaullah Khan Bangash, Shah Faisal Khan and Sardar Zahoor.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2013.