An open letter to SC: List of dual nationals submitted Begum Shehnaz Sheikh

Begum Shehnaz Sheikh

PML-Q’s former MNA Begum Shehnaz Sheikh submitted through an open letter to the Supreme Court on Monday a list of parliamentarians having dual nationality.

In her open letter written to the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, she alleged that the cases of all the parliamentarians having dual nationality were not equally dealt with. She requested the apex court to put the procedure pertaining to reimbursement of benefits enjoyed by the dual nationality holder parliamentarians, on hold until the final verdict on the pending review pleas of the dual nationality holders was delivered.

In her letter, she mentioned the names of 20 dual nationality holder parliamentarians. She said a few of those, whose membership was suspended by the apex court, still continued to remain at their offices. The letter includes the names of Asim Hussain, Raza Haroon, Shahbeen Rizvi, Tayyib Hussain, Fauzia Ejaz and Jameel Ashraf.

Shehnaz Sheikh alleged that she was not justly dealt with despite she had tendered her resignation. She claimed that all dual nationality holder members of parliament were not equally treated. She said all dual nationality holder parliamentarians were not directed to return all the monetary benefits they had drawn during the period they occupied public offices and other emoluments from the public exchequer, including monthly remunerations, TA/DA and facilities of accommodation, along with other perks etc.

She requested the apex court to stop all proceedings of reimbursement of monetary benefits granted to the suspended parliamentarians until a decision came on the review pleas filed against the Supreme Court’s verdict of disqualifying 11 members of parliament.

It may be recalled here that the membership of Begum Shehnaz Sheikh was suspended by the Supreme Court in October 2012 for holding Australian nationality, while being a Pakistani national and a member of the parliament.(The News)

Average Value of MNAs’ Assets increases three folds since 2002; the current National Assembly twice as rich compared to the previous one

A comparative analysis of the assets declared by MNAs belonging to the 12th and the 13th National Assembly of Pakistan reveals that the average value of an MNA’s assets has increased three folds in six years from 2002-2003 to 2008-2009. The average value of an MNA’s Assets in the 12th National Assembly was just below Rs. 27 million in 2002-2003 which has increased to almost Rs. 81 million in 2008-2009, a 3-fold increase in six years, according to a PILDAT Analysis of the Declarations of Assets submitted by MNAs. The analysis also indicates that an average MNA of the current (13th) National Assembly is twice as rich compared to his/her counterpart in the previous (12th) National Assembly.

The PILDAT report series titled How Rich are Pakistani MNAs? has analysed assets declared by MNAs for the years 2002-2003 to 2005-2006; 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 through 3 separate reports. The latest of this series of PILDAT reports, comparing assets declared by MNAs belonging to the 13th (current) National Assembly of Pakistan, has used data contained in the Gazettes published by the Election Commission of Pakistan on October 15 2008 and October 27 2009.

The report depicts that the current average value of assets held by an MNA stands at Rs. 80.89 million, based on the 2008-2009 declarations. This figure demonstrates a modest increase of 9.5% from the 2007-2008 figure of Rs. 73.92 million. The average value of assets owned by non-Muslim MNAs, Rs. 20.35 million, is 75% lower than the overall average of almost Rs. 81 million, based on 2008-2009 figures.

In terms of individual wealth, the 2008-2009 declarations reveal the wealthiest MNA to be Mr. Mehboob Ullah Jan (NA-23, Kohistan, KP, PPPP) with total assets of Rs. 3.288 billion. He is followed by Mr. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (NA-50, Rawalpindi-I, Punjab, PML-N), with total assets of Rs. 1.627 billion, Mr. Jahangir Khan Tareen (NA-195, R.Y.Khan-IV, Punjab, PML-F) with total assets of Rs. 1.095 billion, Mr. Saeed Ahmed Zafar (NA-162, Nankana Sahib-II Old Sheikhupura-VII, Punjab, IND) with total assets of Rs. 1.030 billion, and Ms. Nuzhat Sadiq (NA-277, Punjab-V, PML-N) with total assets of Rs. 912.81 million.

In 2007-2008 declarations reveal the wealthiest MNA to be Mr. Mehboob Ullah Jan (NA-23, Kohistan, KP, PPPP) with total assets of Rs. 3.252 billion. He is followed by Ms. Nuzhat Sadiq (NA-277, Punjab-V, PML-N), with total assets of Rs. 1.514 billion, Chaudhry Zahid Iqbal (NA-162, Sahiwal-III, Punjab, PPPP), with assets amounting to Rs. 1.248 billion, Chaudhry Nazir Ahmed Jatt (NA-167, Vehari-I, Punjab, PML) (who later resigned while facing charges of processing a fake degree; Chaudhary Asghar Ali Jatt is re-elected on this seat in by-election 2010), with assets worth Rs. 843 million and Mr. Jahangir Khan Tareen (NA-195, R.Y.Khan-IV, Punjab, PML –F), with assets amounting to Rs. 716 million.

At the other end of the assets spectrum, the least wealthy MNAs in 2008-2009 is Mr. Saeed Iqbal Chaudhary (NA-81, Faisalabad-VII, Punjab, PPPP) with approximately Rs. 29 million net liabilities, followed by Mr. Roshan Din Junejo (NA-236, Sanghar-III, Sindh, PPPP), Sheikh Rohale Asghar (NA-124 Lahore-VII, Punjab, PML-N), Mr. Ghulam Farid Kathia, (NA-161 Sahiwal-II, Punjab, PPPP), Minister of State for Education, and Mr. Ayaz Amir (NA-60 Chakwal-I, Punjab, PML-N).

Ms. Nuzhat Sadiq (NA-277, Women Punjab-V, PML-N), has remained the richest female MNA in 2008-2009 and 2007-2008, with assets worth Rs. 912.81 million and Rs. 1.514 billion respectively. The second richest female MNA in the current National Assembly is Mrs. Asma Arbab Alamgir (NA-325, Women KP-IV, PPPP) with assets of 515.25 million and 682.05 million in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 respectively while Ms. Belum Hasnain (NA-292, Women Punjab-XX, PPPP) with assets of 332.50 million in 2007-2008 and 298.40 million in 2008-2009 is the third richest female MNA.

Mr. Mohammad Kamran Khan (NA-40, Tribal Area-V, FATA, IND) proved to be the most effective asset manager whose assets grew 42 times from over the period of a year, followed by Maulana Muhammad Qasim (NA-10, NA-10 Mardan-II, KP, MMA), with a 12 time increase in assets and Mr. Bilal Yaseen (NA-120, Lahore-III, Punjab, PML-N) whose assets increased 9 times during the period.

In 2008-2009, the PML-F is the richest or on top of the list in terms of the average wealth of its MNAs (average assets per MNA: Rs. 239 million), followed by the NPP Rs. 122 million, the independents Rs. 108 million; the PPPP Rs. 102 million; the PML-N Rs. 75 million; the PML Rs. 62 million; the ANP Rs. 61 million; the PPP-S Rs. 37 million; the MQM Rs. 25 million; the BNP Rs. 14 million and the MMA Rs. 6 million. These figures demonstrate a 42 fold difference between the average wealth of the MNAs in the party with the greatest average wealth and that with the least. From 2002-2006, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) topped the list in terms of average wealth of its MNA as its lone MNA Mr. Imran Khan (NA-71, Mianwali-I, Punjab, PTI, 12th NA) held assets worth Rs. 85 million at that time, followed by the PML-N (average assets per MNA at Rs. 61 million); PML Rs. 56 million and the PPPP Rs. 34 million.

In geographical terms, the differences in average wealth are significant. In 2008-2009, MNAs from Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) have the highest average value of assets per MNA followed by those from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, FATA, Sindh and Balochistan respectively. Similarly, in 2007-2008, MNAs from the ICT headed the list. This trend has been maintained earlier from 2002-2006 when on average an MNA from the ICT was the richest followed by an MNA from Punjab, FATA, Balochistan, Sindh and KP.

In terms of the percentage share of the combined value of assets in the year 2008-2009, Punjab tops the list, with a share of 54 % (down from 73% in 2002-2006); followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) 31 % (up from 4% share in 2002-2006); Sindh 10 % (down from 11% in 2002-2006); FATA maintaining its 3 %; ICT 1 % (down from 5% in 2002-2006) and Balochistan at 1 % (down from 4% in 2002-2006).