The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has suspended the membership of as many as 150 lawmakers over failure to submit the statement of their assets and liabilities that is required by the top electoral body at the year-end.
The list included three senators, 36 members of the National Assembly, 69 members of the Punjab Assembly, 14 members of the Sindh Assembly, 21 members of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and seven members of the Balochistan Assembly.
According to ECP, the suspended members include three senators from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) including Musaddiq Malik, federal ministers including Fawad Chaudhry, Noorul Haq Qadri, Hammad Azhar, Shafqat Mahmood, Fehmida Mirza and ministers of state including Farrukh Habib and Shabbir Ali Qureshi.
The ECP has also suspended the membership of former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Dr Amir Liquat Hussain, Firdous Shamim, Ali Gohar Khan, Sadaqat Abbassi, Raja Fayyaz, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Yar Mohammad Rind, Mir Sikandar Ali, Sardar Owais Ahmed Khan Leghari, Samiullah Chaudhry, Salman Naeem and Sabtain Khan Niazi.
The ECP said that lawmakers cannot participate in parliamentary proceedings and their membership will remain suspended until they submit their respective statements.
Almost every year, the commission suspends the membership of scores of lawmakers for not submitting the statement. Last year, the membership of 154 members was suspended by the ECP.
