The poor little rich leaders.
That is what one would say looking at the list published of assets by ECP of
most of our parliamentarians. You see people who live like kings showing assets
of paupers with many of them not even possessing a vehicle for transportation. The
asset declaration itself is a good step in transparency but doesnot serve the
purpose. The real objective is to find out what the real worth of our
parliamentarians is; what are their sources of income; and whether they are
paying their due share of tax. This time as well asset declaration exercise has
been done routinely with question marks on most declarations, but every time no
action on incorrect declaration is taken to ensure that the purpose of
transparency and truth are fully achieved.
Taking the first objective,
that is to find out the real financial worth of the parliamentarians, the
declaration of assets so far seems far from the true picture. Some declarations
are in variance with their own earlier submissions. Prime minister Nawaz Sharif
is a glaring example. At the time of his filing of nomination papers in May he
declared that he had assets worth Rs 261.6 million, while the latest list
published by ECP shows his asset worth Rs 1.7 billion. This almost Rs 1.5
billion increase in his wealth within six months in government raises quite a
few questions. If it is an error, like the one pointed out in the case of Imran
khan, why has the clarification not come to explain it, as was done by PTI? If
it is not an error and his assets have become almost 600% more in 6 months,
that itself is scandalous. How is it possible that the whole economy has gone
down, foreign investment has decreased, reserves have hit a new low, people are
dying due to lack of employment, purchasing power, electricity, gas etc and the
Prime minister records a massive increase in his income. Unfortunately that has
been the case for so many years where while the country’s net worth has gone
down the net worth of the leaders has multiplied. Similarly the non -declaration
of total assets is also a reflection of this culture of treating legislation
with scant respect. Take the case of Pervez Rashid who according to these
reports has no family house, no car, no property and only Rs 250,300 in bank.
Afrasiab Khattak similarly has no assets at all and just Rs 15,947 in cash.
Babar Awan declares his assets but the original value is readable while the
present value of the same assets is all faded and unreadable.
The task is not over just by
declaring “whatever they want to declare”. The task is that there should be an
asset verification process and then any discrepancy to be taken to task. There
is a law in ECP that misreporting can result in disqualification, but the
problem is how will people appointed by those people who themselves are the
culprits ever have the courage to do so; and that is what makes these
declarations so futile. The recent example is the head of NAB being investigated
for corruption being cleared of the charge by his own juniors. Similarly almost
half the parliamentarians are non tax payers and many donot have an NTN number.
This report was published last year also and this year also with a lot of
debate on media but no action at all. Regardless of which party the evader
belongs, regardless of which rank and position he or she is, evasion and non
filing is a crime and should be penalized ruthlessly and relentlessly. This is
the prime reason why people are not willing to pay tax, aside from the fact
that they see their tax money funding promotion campaigns of the politicians
and their family. With this government’s clear focus on encouraging tax evasion
by giving a no question asked blanket for black money, it is evident that the
.75 million people who pay tax will be facing crushing burden in the coming
years and looking at ways of how not to pay tax.
The questions raised by UK
parliament in providing aid to Pakistan are logical and valid. They are saying
why should they provide their own tax payer money to leaders who donot pay
taxes while piling up assets like Surrey Palace and Park Lane residences in UK.
This may seem routine but it is this evil of the politicians keeping their
assets abroad that will always make them indifferent to the country as most of
their financial stakes are stowed overseas. All previous governments who made a
mess of Pakistan, be it PMLN, PPP or Musharraf, all had great escapes to
Jeddah, Dubai and UK. They wait in luxury for the time when they can come back
through deals with the power brokers to once again ravage the country with
their fake promises and fake policies. Such leaders are the real liabilities
that erode the political and economic assets of the country.
The writer is an analyst and columnist, PTI member and can be reached
at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com; Twitter: @AndleebAbbas
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