Vawda says Dubai property leaks saga released to target COAS Gen Asim

Reacting to the recent Dubai property leaks saga, Independent Senator Faisal Vawda came up with a unique logic that the revelations were aimed at targeting the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir.

A day earlier, a global investigative journalism project named, Dubai Unlocked, revealed the details of several Pakistani politicians, bureaucrats, military men, lawmakers, criminals, and money launders, who own properties in upscale areas of the Gulf country.

According to the report, almost 17,000 Pakistanis were named in the leaks and their combined value of properties was estimated at around $11 billion.

The leaked data provides a detailed overview of hundreds of thousands of properties in Dubai and information about their ownership or usage, largely from 2020 and 2022.

Pakistanis who are listed in the property leaks are President Asif Ali Zardari’s three children, Hussain Nawaz Sharif, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s wife, Sharjeel Memon and family members, Senator Faisal Vawda, Farah Gogi, Sher Afzal Marwat, four MNAs and six MPAs from the Sindh and Balochistan assemblies.

The list also included late military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf, former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, and more than a dozen retired generals as well as a police chief, an ambassador, and a scientist.

In an interview with a private news channel on Tuesday night, the former PTI leader apparently accused his former party of leaking the data, asking "Why not a single name from PTI was mentioned in the leaks."

"[...] few honest personalities” were also included in the list," the Senator claimed.

He further said that the data was released after “removing a specific class” from it.

However, when the host asked him about the legitimacy of his property in Dubai, Vawda refused to give an answer to the question.

"Why would I tell you?" he responded.

Putting his weight behind COAS Gen Asim, Vawda further claimed that the reason behind the saga was to target "only one man who has taken responsibility for Pakistan's productivity and success".

However, the top armyman's name was not mentioned in the list of Pakistani notables who owned properties in the Gulf country.

Earlier in a tweet, he questioned that the confidential property records were aimed at targeting army-backed SIFC and the agreements for global investments between Pakistan and Dubai.

Vawda also questioned the leaks just after the law and order situation deteriorated in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).