The NA President orders the suspended members to leave the House, as the members are prohibited from participating in the proceedings until they submit their statements.
ISLAMABAD:
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has suspended 159 members of parliament and provincial assemblies for failing to file declarations of their assets and liabilities.
The suspension affects 32 members of the National Assembly, 50 members of the Punjab Assembly, 33 of the Sindh Assembly, 28 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and seven members of the Balochistan Assembly. Nine senators were also suspended, and suspended members will not be able to participate in any parliamentary or provincial assembly proceedings until their membership is restored.
Among the prominent political leaders who have been suspended are Balochistan National Party chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan coordinator Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.
From the Pakistan People’s Party, Syed Abdul Qadir Gilani and Ali Musa Gilani have been suspended from the National Assembly. National Assembly members Saira Afzal Tarar and Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto have also been suspended.
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Party president Awais Qadir Shah, former prime minister Qaim Ali Shah and Saeed Ghani have also been suspended from the Sindh Assembly.
From the Senate, the memberships of Fauzia Arshad, Abid Sher Ali and Musaddiq Malik of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, along with Murad Saeed of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Noor ul Haq Qadri, have been suspended.
From the Sindh Assembly, Speaker Awais Qadir Shah, former Prime Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Agha Shehbaz Durrani, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman and Saeed Ghani have been suspended.
The ECP says the memberships of the members in question will not be restored until they submit their asset and liability statements.
Meanwhile, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq ordered the suspended members to leave the House, saying their attendance will not be recorded nor will they be allowed to sit.
Under Pakistani electoral laws, all elected representatives must submit annual declarations of their assets and liabilities to the ECP. Failure to comply with this requirement results in automatic suspension of membership.
