Patriot Report
Islamabad: Following intense public criticism and the ongoing debate over offshore wealth of Pakistani leaders as revealed in the Panama Papers, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has removed asset details of parliamentarians from its website.
According to a reliable source, the election commission was allegedly facing intense pressure from ruling quarters for removal of asset details of leaders. The ECP has also been ordered not to upload such details on website in future, said the source on condition of anonymity.
The commission had published asset details of last two years of the parliamentarians’, but they are no more available on the website. Political analysts believe that the details of assets had been removed to deny access to the details.
They said the people’s outrage and storm following revelations of Panama Papers had rocked the government cricles, forcing them to take moves to block public access to all such information.
Senior PTI leader Dr Arif Alvi took to Twitter to express his disappointment on the development and said ‘ECP has removed parliamentarians’ assets from its website. It is a regressive step, rather than becoming more transparent we are more opaque.’
Expressing surprise on the development Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Sherry Rehman in a message posted on Twitter said, ‘Has the ECP removed the asset declaration of parliamentarians from its website? If that is indeed the case this won’t end well’.