ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan Tehreek-i-Insaf has announced that it will file references against two federal ministers in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for their disqualification for allegedly concealing their Iqamas (work permits) and foreign jobs at the time of contesting general elections.

Speaking at a news conference here on Thursday, PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry said the party had completed consultations with its legal team on the issue and now two party members would separately file references in the ECP against Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal.

He said PTI deputy secretary general Usman Dar would file the disqualification reference against Mr Asif and party member and singer Abrarul Haq against Mr Iqbal.

Mr Dar, who was also present at the news conference, accused Mr Asif of not declaring his Iqama before the ECP and the Federal Board of Revenue and said he would also expose corruption and corrupt practices of the minister.

In a Twitter message, Imran Khan said Iqama was a “form of protection and easy escape route” and urged the UAE government to disclose details of the bank accounts of the Pakistani Iqama-holders.

“Under international agreements, Central Bank, UAE, must disclose all bank information of non-residents’ bank accounts,” he said, adding: “All our mafias keep Iqamas/residences in the UAE bec[ause] Central Bank UAE not bound to nor does it disclose bank acc[ount] details of UAE Iqama holders.”

Fawad Chaudhry regretted that it was sad that the prime minister was serving as a marketing manager in the UAE and the defence minister as electrician at a UAE-based firm. It seemed that all the cabinet members possessed Iqamas of different countries which was against the law, he said, adding that the PML-N leaders obtained work permits of foreign countries not to get jobs but to have an ‘escape way’ when they would not be in power and could be made accountable for their wrongdoing.

He alleged that the PML-N leaders had obtained Iqamas not for travelling purposes, but for opening their bank accounts in the Gulf countries. He said that under the UAE and Saudi laws, only their nationals or Iqama-holders could open bank accounts in these countries.

He said the PTI believed that a bigger scam than Panamagate was about to be exposed when they would present details of the multiple bank accounts of the PML-N leaders.

The PTI spokesman also announced that the party had decided to launch a “token protest movement” to press for its demand for the prime minister’s resignation. He said they would first set up protest camps outside press clubs and then announce rallies and demonstrations. However, he expressed the hope that after the announcement of the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Panama Papers case on Friday, they would convert their protest campaign into celebrations.

Following Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s confession that he had obtained an Iqama of the United Arab Emirates, Khawaja Asif and Ahsan Iqbal were also found to be holders of work permits of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, respectively.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2017