ECP moved for Imran, Zardari’s disqualification

ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the opposition Pakistan People’s Party have moved the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) seeking details of assets declared by the top leaderships of respective political parties.

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Thursday filed applications with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), seeking details of assets of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda.

A PPP delegation met with the ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad after which the senior party leader Farhatullah Babar told media persons that they had urged the ECP to provide details of assets submitted by the premier for all elections he had contested in the past. "The money trail of Imran Khan's properties is suspect and the PPP will prove that he holds undeclared properties abroad,” he claimed.

The PPP has also submitted applications to the institutions concerned seeking details of assets owned by the prime minister’s sister, Aleema Khan, and of business interests of Jahangir Tareen, he noted.

He said the PPP will file a disqualification reference against Imran Khan and others based on the evidence being gathered. "We want everyone in the government and the opposition to be held accountable under the same law," Babar said and made it clear that the PPP will face all cases against it through legal channels.

Babar said Zardari had no assets barring those declared in his annual returns filed with the ECP. Meanwhile, talking to The News, Babar said all the properties and assets Zardari owns were listed in the declaration submitted to the ECP.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has claimed that Zardari has become ineligible to remain a member of the National Assembly under articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution for not disclosing his Manhattan New York apartment.

Babar said there had been so much high-watt propaganda that it had become impossible to differentiate between the lie and truth. “Media trial being done by the government is at its peak,” he added.

“The long lists of properties, presenting Zardari as their owner, have also been published in the past but nothing was ever proven against him. This clearly means that all this was disinformation and falsity,” he said. Babar said he was not in a position to comment on any property, but the law required that if somebody had an undeclared asset, they should be arraigned and the allegation be established against them. Instead of doing the media trial, the government, Babar said, should file a petition with a court of law to prove its accusation. “If this is not done, all what has been spread will be fiction and canard,” he asserted.

He said there was no unified set of rules for accountability that were being applied across the board. “On the one hand, when it comes to the undeclared properties of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sister, she is imposed a fine and not asked to produce the money trail how the asset was purchased. On the other hand, the opposition leaders are forced to account for their properties. The well-thought out policy is to save their own men and punish their opponents.” Babar said Zardari would present his case when the PTI would raise the issue of the purported undeclared apartment in the ECP or any court. “Then everybody will have to accept the decision of such forum.”

He noted that the information minister had announced that the PTI would seek Zardari’s disqualification for having the alleged undeclared Manhattan apartment on the day the FIA filed its report with the apex court in the alleged fake bank accounts. This says it all, he said, and added that on different occasions, the PTI ministers and leaders had been pronouncing judgements when some courts were about to hand their verdicts.

“An obvious question that arises is how come they come to know of the court decisions before their release,” Babar said. He believed that this reflected the greater game plan against the opposition parties.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday filed a reference with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for hiding a property in the United States. The petition, submitted by the PTI's Khurram Sher Zaman and Firdous Shamim Naqvi, moved the ECP to take notice of the matter and disqualify Zardari as a member of the National Assembly.

Receiving the petition, the Sindh election commissioner maintained that only the ECP Islamabad could take an action over it.

Speaking to the media outside the Sindh office of the ECP, Zaman said one individual had met his fate while the other's turn was on December 24. He said taking action against big fish over corruption was a priority of the PTI government. The PTI leader said they had submitted the petition with evidence as to how money was laundered out of Pakistan and to which places, demanding the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to investigate the US property of the former president. Naqvi said Zardari could not stay as a member of the National Assembly under 62(1)(f) of the Constitution.