Pakistani EC suspends ministers, lawmakers

Pakistan's Election Commission has suspended 148 members of the national and provincial assemblies, including several federal ministers, for failing to submit details of their assets.

Chief Election Commissioner Hamid Ali Mirza issued orders to suspend the membership of the lawmakers who had not submitted details of their assets and liabilities to the commission within the stipulated time. The lawmakers will "cease to perform their functions till they submit the details of their assets," the Election Commission said on Monday. A spokesman said the lawmakers would be reinstated once they submitted the required information.

The suspended parliamentarians include federal Education Minister Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali, Labour Minister Syed Khursheed Shah, Tourism Minister Maulana Ata-ur-Rehman, Zakat Minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, Minister

of State for Information Samsam Ali Bukhari and Minister of State Jama Mangero. The ruling Pakistan People's Party topped the list of suspended lawmakers with 16 members. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and PML-Q senior leader and former federal minister Amir Muqam are also among suspended members of the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament.

The suspended lawmakers include 34 from the National Assembly, 69 from the Punjab assembly, 16 from the Sindh assembly, 10 from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assembly and 12 of the Balochistan assembly. Under the law, members of the national and provincial assemblies are required to submit details of their assets and liabilities to the Election Commission by September 30 every year. The date was extended to October 16 this year but the 148 lawmakers still did not submit the information.