LAHORE – 33 Punjab Assembly members are facing criminal proceedings indifferent courts across the country, according to Free & Fair ElectionNetwork’s (FAFEN) “Parliament Monitor”.
FAFEN has published a report containing the profiles of the members ofprovincial assemblies (MPAs) who have started their five-year term.
Nearly one-third (123) legislators in the Punjab Assembly have declaredthat they possess assets of a cumulative worth between Rs11 million to Rs50million, while 18 per cent own assets ranging between one million rupees toRs10 million. The worth of around 16 per cent legislators’ assets rangesfrom Rs101 million to Rs500 million while 12 per cent legislators haveassets of worth between Rs51 million to 100 million rupees.
There are four billionaires in the Punjab Assembly with Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Sheikh Allauddin being the richest with assetsworth more than Rs1 billion. On the other hand, six and three legislatorsbelonging to PML-N and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), respectively, haveassets worth less than a million.
Moreover, as many as 33 (9%) incoming legislators of Punjab have mentionedin their affidavits that they have criminal cases pending against them.
18 of these lawmakers belong to PTI, 14 to PML-N and one to PakistanRah-e-Haq.