Perpetuating the perennial trust deficit between citizens and the state, the National Assembly has taken yet another step away from accountability by passing a bill allowing lawmakers to withhold the public disclosure of details of their assets for up to a year over “security concerns.”
Public disclosure of legislators is one of the few tools available to citizens to assess whether their representatives are enriching themselves in office, living beyond their means, or entangled in conflicts of interest. Amidst stagnant incomes, high unemployment, and declining purchasing power, the optics of the decision are indefensible. If anything, the prevailing situation calls for more, not less, transparency to enable citizens to trust that their future is in safe hands.
What makes matters worse is that the justification of “security concerns” only deepens public suspicion. If lawmakers think they are endangering their lives if they make their assets public, they are implicitly acknowledging the existence of extreme disparities between themselves and the people they govern. Rather than dispelling these doubts, this legislation reinforces the perception that there is something to hide: unexplained wealth, questionable sources of income, or assets accumulated through privilege rather than performance. Perception matters, especially in politics, and this bill feeds the very cynicism that Parliament should be working to dismantle.
It is particularly disappointing the bill was tabled by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Shazia Marria, rubbishing the party’s claims of being a champion of democratic norms, civilian supremacy, and the rights of ordinary citizens. This isn’t an aberration. Over the years, the PPP has repeatedly invoked the language of democracy while presiding over, or enabling, measures that weaken its substance. By introducing this bill, the PPP further erodes whatever moral authority it claims as a progressive or democratic force, aligning itself instead with an entrenched political class more concerned with self-protection than public accountability.
Each retreat from transparency widens the already alarming gap between the public and the executive. Pakistanis are already disinclined to trust institutions, comply with laws, or believe in the legitimacy of the political process. Such laws only push for greater manifestations of apathy, protest, and, in extreme cases, instability. Pakistan can ill afford any of these.
Rather than hiding being laws aimed at securing their personal safety, lawmakers should focus on improving security, strengthening the rule of law, and addressing inequality. Every measures shielding lawmakers—and only lawmakers—from accountability only deepens the rifts with the public.
Democracies thrive only through scrutiny, not secrecy.