Who Wants To Be A Billionaire: Pakistan Army Edition | How Bajwa's family prospered as nation struggled

As the common people of Pakistan were struggling after devastating floods with followed the Covid pandemic, Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa was apparently busy making his family filthy rich.

In the 6 years that Bajwa was head of the Pakistan Army, the wealth of his family reportedly zoomed from paltry amounts to 12.7 billion Pakistani rupees, or around 460 crore in Indian rupees.

Here's a breakdown of the family's riches, and also the surprising reaction of the Pakistani government.

The wealth of the Bajwa family is in the headlines after a news report in an outlet called FactsFocus. Tax details of Pakistan Army's outgoing chief apparently show that Gen Bajwa's extended family became billionaires after 2016 when he took the top job. The wealth of many of his relatives went from zero to billions within a few short years. Bajwa's family acquired Rs 12.7 billion in various types of assets and businesses. These properties and businesses are based both inside and outside Pakistan.

Here's how the financial status of Bajwa's wife, daughter-in-law, and others changed.

Ayesha Amjad, the wife of General Bajwa, was not filing tax returns when her husband became a Lieutenant General. Her wealth was zero in 2016, but increased to Rs 2.2 billion in 2022 according to her tax information. This amount excludes houses, residential plots, and commercial plots given to Bajwa by the Pakistan Army.

Next is Mahnoor Sabir, who is Bajwa's daughter-in-law. Her wealth was zero in October 2018, but rose Rs 1.2 billion just a month later, when she was getting married. Her tax filings in 2018 said the properties had been acquired between 2014 and 2016, but not declared. Mahnoor also became the manager of an oil company named Taxx Petroleum Pakistan in November 2019.

The tax returns of Sabir 'Mithu' Hameed - Bajwa's friend and the father-in-law of his eldest son - were less than Rs 1 million in 2013. However, in subsequent years, his wealth reportedly rose to billions. Sabir and his brother Nasir are also directors in Taxx Petroleum Pakistan.

Then there is Hamna Naseer, the sister of Bajwa's daughter-in-law. She had zero assets in 2016, but it rose to billions by the next year.

These are just the known and declared amounts. FactsFocus said that it was not able to get details of Bajwa's two sons.

The family's declared assets reportedly include an international business, farmhouses in Islamabad and Karachi, a massive real estate portfolio in Lahore, multiple foreign properties, commercial plazas, and commercial plots.

The Shehbaz Sharif government in Pakistan had an interesting reaction to the revelations. Instead of questioning how Bajwa's family acquired so much wealth, the government targeted the news portal.

The Pakistani government ordered a probe into the leaking of Bajwa family's financial details. The Finance Minister called leakage of the tax information "illegal" and "unwarranted". The Minister said that the incident violated tax information's confidentiality, and ordered an investigation by Special Assistant to Pakistan PM on Revenue.

Meanwhile, the news publication - FactsFocus - has claimed that after releasing the story, traffic on its website was disrupted, and the site was also banned in Pakistan.

The common people of Pakistan have been suffering under austerity measures imposed by the IMF for helping the economy. This has exacerbated the hardships caused by the Covid pandemic, and the recent floods.

In such a situation, if the chief of Pakistan's Army was misusing his position to make his own family richer, and the government fails to investigate this, then it will only reinforce the perception that Pakistan's elected government is just a puppet of the military.