The Election Commission of Pakistan has made clear it has a mandate to suspend the memberships of those who fail to submit their statements of assets and liabilities by January 15.
By Nusrat Shaheen
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Monday published a list of 28 Senators who have failed to submit their statements of assets and liabilities as required by law, including heavyweights like Senator Raza Rabbani, Senator Yousuf Raza Gillani, Senator Musaddiq Malik, Senator Taj Haider, and others.
A terse ECP media statement put them on notice to meet the statutory mandate by January 15 or face suspension of their Senate memberships.
Publication on January 1 every year of a list of all members of the Senate or an Assembly who have failed to file their mandatory financial returns is a statutory mandate under section 137(2) of the Elections Act, 2017.
Those who fail to file the requisite returns – viz., statement of assets and liabilities including assets and liabilities of his spouse and dependent children as on the end of the previous fiscal year on Form B – face suspension of their membership of the respective house by an order of the ECP, as provided by section 137(3) of the Elections Act.
The ECP announcement made clear that those who fail to comply by January 15, 2024 during office hours will have their membership suspended on January 16, 2024.
The announcement further warned that the cases of any ex-members of Senate, National Assembly, and Provincial Assemblies of the Sindh and Balochistan whose statements of assets and liabilities are not received by January 15, 2024, “shall be placed before the Commission for appropriate orders”.
Interestingly, those found in violation of the law in this context belong to virtually all political parties worthy of their name, including the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
PTI is represented on the roster by several Senators including Liaqat Khan Tarakai, Sania Nishtar, Shaukat Tarin, Aon Abbas, Gurdeep Singh, Dost Muhammad Khan, Zeeshan Khanzada, and Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee.
Those belonging to PPPP include – besides Rabbani, Gillani and Haider – Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Syed Muhammad Ali Shah Jamot, and Imamuddin Shouqeen.
MQM-P Senators on the list include Senators Syed Faisal Ali Subzwari and Khalida Ateeb, besides MQM’s former Senator Nasreen Jalil.
Senators associated with PML-N include – besides Musadik Malik – Nuzhat Sadiq and Syed Sabir Shah.
BAP Senators included include Danesh Kumar, Saeed Ahmed Hashmi, and Samina Mumtaz Zehri, while JUI, ANP, and BNP have at least one Senator each, viz., respectively, Atta-ur-Rehman, ANP Hidayatullah, and Muhammad Qasim.
The complete list published by the ECP is given below.
- Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani S/D/W Makhdoom Syed Alamdar Hussain Gillani
- Musadik Masood Malik S/D/W Anwar Masood Malik
- Shaheen Khalid Butt S/D/W Mohammad Yaqoob Butt
- Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee S/D/W Imran Ahsan Khan
- Aon Abbas S/D/W Muhammad Abbas
- Nuzhat Sadiq S/D/W Aamir Sadiq
- Syed Muhammad Ali Shah Jamot S/D/W Zulfiqar Ali Shah Jamot
- Mian Raza Rabbani S/D/W Mian Ata Rabbani
- Imamuddin Shouqeen S/D/W Roshan Din
- Syed Faisal Ali Subzwari S/D/W Syed Ehtram Ali Subzwari
- Taj Haider S/D/W Karrar Hussain
- Nisar Ahmed Khuhro S/D/W Muhammad Nawaz
- Khalida Ateeb S/D/W W/O Syed Ateeb Ahmad
- Syed Muhammad Sabir Shah S/D/W Syed Muhammad Tayab Shah
- Shaukat Fayaz Ahmed Tarin S/D/W Jamshed Ahmad Tarin (Ex-Member, resigned on 12.12.2023)
- Liaqat Khan Tarakai S/D/W Haji Munir Khan
- Hidayatullah Khan S/D/W Pir Muhammad Khan
- Atta-ur-Rehman S/D/W Moulana Mufti Mehmood
- Zeeshan Khanzada S/D/W Khanzada Khan
- Sania Nishtar S/D/W W/O Muhammad Ghalib Nishtar
- Dost Muhammad Khan S/D/W Gawan Khan
- Gurdeep Singh S/D/W Bhagat Ram
- Hidayat Ullah S/D/W Bismillah Khan
- Mohammad Abdul Qadir S/D/W Muhammad Ayoub
- Muhammad Qasim S/D/W Muhammad Hashim
- Samina Mumtaz S/D/W Ali Hassan Zehri
- Saeed Ahmed Hashmi S/D/W Syed Iqbal Shah Hashmi
- Danesh Kumar S/D/W Kalena Ram
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