Following the release of extensive data on properties owned by foreigners in Dubai, several Pakistani politicians mentioned in the data have minimized the significance, asserting that there is nothing inappropriate about their ownership and that their properties were already declared.
The data, made public on Tuesday, offers a comprehensive overview of hundreds of thousands of properties in Dubai, including ownership or usage information, primarily from 2020 and 2022. It was acquired by the Center for Advanced Defence Studies (C4ADS), a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization that focuses on researching international crime and conflict.
Among the notable names are PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, his siblings Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari and Aseefa Bhutto Zardari; Mohsin Naqvi’s wife, Ms. Ashraf; Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon; MNA Ikhtiar Baig; Hussain Nawaz, son of PML-N President Nawaz Sharif; Saad Siddique Bajwa, son of General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa; Senator Faisal Vawda; Sardar Sanaullah Zehri; Akhtar Mengal; and PML-N MNA Ehsanul Haq Bajwa.
In response, Bilawal’s spokesperson Zulfikar Ali Bader stated that the former foreign minister and Aseefa had already disclosed all their domestic and foreign properties to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
He noted that this information was publicly accessible on the ECP website and emphasized that there was “nothing new or illegal” in the data, as it was “already in the public domain.”
Bader explained that it was well-known that the two siblings had grown up in exile and had lived in the same property mentioned in the report with their mother, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, ultimately inheriting it after her assassination.
He also warned that any action or insinuation based on defamation would be contested in the relevant forums.
