Pakistani MPs Claim Frugal Lives

BBC News, Islamabad

May 24, 2006

By Mubashir Zaidi

In Pakistan, politics is considered a rich man's job. Many MPs are either industrialists or agriculturists, and are widely seen as a wealthy elite.
Yet if the recently published list of their assets is to be believed, they are living a frugal and penniless life.

More than 80 MPs on the list released by the Election Commission of Pakistan solemnly declare that they do not own a house, and 100 say they have no car.

MPs who do admit to owning such luxuries are liable to be taxed.

'A joke'

The list of assets released by the Election Commission earlier this month gives the impression that Pakistani MPs are among the most abstentious in the world.

In the latest list, two former prime ministers, Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain and Zafarullah Jamali, both formally declare that they have no cars of their own.

Yet Mr Shujaat is one of Pakistan's most well-known known industrialists.

Similarly, many cabinet ministers claim that they do not have either a house or a car.

The ministers of interior, health, law, religious affairs, commerce, and science and information technology all state they are without houses or cars.

So too do the state ministers of economic affairs, parliamentary affairs and foreign affairs.

Critics say their declarations stretch the limits of credulity, and in some cases appear to be a joke at the expense of the authorities.

Wealth understatement

For example, Defence Minister Rao Sikander Iqbal declared ownership of a tractor but not a car.

Even MPs from religious parties appear to understate their wealth.

Two parliamentarians from the alliance of Islamic parties, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), declare that they do not have any assets.

One of them said he had nothing more than two beds, two tables and six chairs.

An Election Commission spokesman said that it was powerless to challenge the asset returns unless complaints were received from members of the public.

But so far none has been submitted.

Analysts say that while some MPs are unquestionably abusing the system, their asset declarations are not always false.

That is because many parliamentarians take the precaution of registering property and housing under the names of close relatives so that they will not be exposed to tax.

"If only they were as clever running the country as they are in dealing with their personal affairs," said one frustrated member of the public.