Poor Pakistan's MNAs get 3-fold richer in 6 years

ISLAMABAD An average value of assets of an MNA has increased three folds in six years, from 2002-2003 to 2008-2009, with Mehboob Ullah Jan as the wealthiest followed by Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Jahngir Khan Tareen, Saeed Ahmed Zafar and Nuzhat Sadiq. An analysis of the assets declared by MNAs belonging to the previous (12th) and the current (13th) National Assembly by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development (PILDAT), Tuesday, claimed that the average value of an MNAs assets had increased three folds in six years (from 2002-2003 to 2008-2009). According to PILDAT, the average value of an MNAs assets in the 12th National Assembly was below Rs27 million in 2002-2003 which increased to almost Rs81 million in 2008-2009, a 3-fold increase in six years, suggesting that 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. It also depicted that the current average value of assets held by an MNA stood at Rs80.89 million, based on the 2008-2009 declarations. The figure demonstrates a modest increase of 9.5pc from the 2007-2008 figure i.e. Rs73.92 million. The average value of assets owned by non-Muslim MNAs, Rs20.35 million, is 75pc lower than the overall average of almost Rs81 million, based on 2008-2009 figures. In terms of individual wealth, 2008-2009 declarations submitted by the MNAs to the Election Commission revealed that the wealthiest MNA was Mehboob Ullah Jan (NA-23, Kohistan, KP, PPPP) with total assets of Rs3.288 billion, followed by Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (NA-50, Rawalpindi-I, Punjab, PML-N), with total assets of Rs1.627 billion, Jahangir Khan Tareen (NA-195, R.Y.Khan-IV, Punjab, PML-F) with total assets of Rs1.095 billion, Saeed Ahmed Zafar (NA-162, Nankana Sahib-II Old Sheikhupura-VII, Punjab, IND) with total assets of Rs1.030 billion, and Nuzhat Sadiq (NA-277, Punjab-V, PML-N) with total assets of Rs912.81 million. The 2007-2008 declarations revealed the wealthiest MNA to be Mehboob Ullah Jan (NA-23, Kohistan, KP, PPPP) with total assets of Rs3.252 billion. He is followed by Nuzhat Sadiq (NA-277, Punjab-V, PML-N), with total assets of Rs1.514 billion, Ch Zahid Iqbal (NA-162, Sahiwal-III, Punjab, PPPP), with assets amounting to Rs1.248 billion, Ch Nazir Ahmed Jatt (NA-167, Vehari-I, Punjab, PML) (who later resigned while facing charges of processing a fake degree; Ch Asghar Ali Jatt was re-elected to that seat in by-election 2010), with assets worth Rs843 million and Jahangir Khan Tareen (NA-195, RY Khan-IV, Punjab, PML -F), with assets amounting to Rs716 million. At the other end of the assets spectrum, the least wealthy MNAs in 2008-2009 is Saeed Iqbal Chaudhary (NA-81, Faisalabad-VII, Punjab, PPPP) with approximately Rs29 million net liabilities, followed by Roshan Din Junejo (NA-236, Sanghar-III, Sindh, PPPP), Sh Rohale Asghar (NA-124 Lahore-VII, Punjab, PML-N), Ghulam Farid Kathia, (NA-161 Sahiwal-II, Punjab, PPPP), Minister of State for Education, and Ayaz Amir (NA-60 Chakwal-I, Punjab, PML-N). Nuzhat Sadiq (NA-277, Women Punjab-V, PML-N) has remained the richest female MNA in 2008-2009 and 2007-2008, with assets worth Rs912.81 million and Rs1.514 billion respectively. The second richest female MNA in the current National Assembly is Asma Arbab Alamgir (NA-325, Women KP-IV, PPPP) with assets of Rs515.25 million and Rs682.05 million in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 respectively while Belum Hasnain (NA-292, Women Punjab-XX, PPPP) with assets of Rs332.50 million in 2007-2008 and Rs298.40 million in 2008-2009 is the third richest female MNA. Mohammad Kamran Khan (NA-40, Tribal Area-V, FATA, IND) came out to be the most effective asset manager whose assets grew 42-time 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 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 Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) topped the list in terms of average wealth of its MNA as its lone MNA Imran Khan (NA-71, Mianwali-I, Punjab, PTI, 12th NA) held assets worth Rs85 million at that time, followed by the PML-N (average assets per MNA at Rs61 million); PML Rs56 million and the PPPP Rs34 million.

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