Billionaires in the hallowed Houses
At times, the Election Commission of Pakistan’s recently released list of Parliamentarian assets reads like a ranked list by Forbes or Fortune magazine of the richest men in some category or other.
Prime Minister’s assets show a decline over past two years, but one needn’t shed a tear over this ‘fall’, as the assets are in billions. His holdings, a mere Rs.166 million in 2011, 261.6 million in 2012, sky-rocketed to Rs.1.82 billion in 2013, it being a sheer coincidence that 2013 was his first year as PM in the third stint. His assets have followed a smooth upward path since 2011, crossing Rs.2 billion in 2014, before dipping to Rs.1.96 billion in 2015 and Rs.1.72 billion in 2016. A Land Cruiser gifted by a nameless admirer also brings up the question of gifts that are hoarded by our leaders, both civilian and military, by purchasing them at a fraction of their price. Car-less Imran Khan’s assets have shown a quantum leap from Rs.22.9 million (2012) to Rs.1.33 billion in 2015, while Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, PTI’s Jahangir Tareen, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, KP MNAs Khayal Zaman and Sajid Hussain Turi are also in the super leagues.
This vast concentration of wealth takes some of the sheen off the system which is supposed to be for the people, of the people, by the people. It also means shutting out the middleclass from the revered precincts of parliament. The ECP seriously needs to tighten up its monitoring of election expenditures and disqualification of violators. Questions and eyebrows will certainly be raised about the astronomical assets which also contain price-tags that are obviously on the lower side, or the worth of an item is missing, and also on the taxes paid on these assets. Judging from the rags to riches tales of some prominent politicians, public offices are regrettably used to amass personal holdings, making them worshippers of mammon rather than working for the noble cause of the greater good of the greatest number. Parliament must not be a millionaires club alone.