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Monday, October 21, 2013Non-submission of asset details : Over 50 MPs may face membership suspension
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: More than fifty members of the parliament and provincial assemblies may face the music as they have failed to submit the mandatory details of their assets to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The members of the parliament and provincial assemblies belonging to various political parties are yet to comply with the ECP requirement.
ECP had set September 30 deadline for submission of details of assets by members of National and provincial assemblies and later extended the date for more 15 days by fixing the deadline of October 15, as mostly members had failed to submit details by the earlier specified time.
However, fifty members of the parliament and provincial assemblies could not even comply with the requirement by October 15. The Eid holidays almost stretching over one week refrained the ECP from taking any action against it. “With the resumption of official working from Monday, ECP will take the decision about the fate of these members”, sources in the ECP told.
These members included nine from National Assembly, four from Senate, nine from Punjab Assembly, 11 of Sindh Assembly, 22 of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and six belonging to Balochistan Assembly.
Among the fifty members of the parliament who could not submit details of their assets include Rehman Malik, Faisal Raza Abidi and Islamuddin Shaikh of Pakistan People’s Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)’s Syed Mustaf Kamal from Senate.
Nine members of National Assembly with prominent names like Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PT)’s Asad Umar, Amirullah Marwat, PPP’s Dr Azra Afzal and Shah Jahan Baloch are yet to submit details of their assets.
Sources said the commission had intended to cancel the membership of violators but could not do so due to Eid Holidays.
The election rules state if the membership of any of the parliament members was cancelled, they cannot take part in assembly session until the membership was restored.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk