ISLAMABAD: From April 27 to April 29, a three-member bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will hear the foreign funding case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on a daily basis, led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.
The ECP was ordered by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to announce a decision in the funding matter in May. The ECP had set the matter for hearing on April 27, 28, and 29 — before of the Eidul Fitr holidays – in accordance with the directive.
Anwar Mansoor, the lawyer for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), is anticipated to speak about the scrutiny committee findings. After nearly four years and 95 sessions, the ECP’s scrutiny committee submitted its findings on January 4.
According to the study, the PTI leadership broke funding restrictions by allowing outsiders, including Indian nationals and international companies, to collect millions of dollars and billions of rupees without providing any source or details.
The PTI, which has accused the ECP of being biassed, has called for rallies on April 26 outside ECP offices around the nation. The party filed a complaint with the IHC last week against the ECP and 17 other political parties.
Since November 14, 2014, the PTI foreign funding case has been pending. The case was brought by PTI dissident Akbar S Babar, who claimed that the party’s funding from Pakistan and overseas had been tainted by major financial irregularities.
PTI lawyers Anwar Mansoor Khan and Shah Khawar submitted a petition in the IHC on Saturday, demanding that the court send orders to the election supervisor to adjudicate claims against other political parties within a month, the period established by the IHC for the PTI case’s resolution.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Awami Muslim League (AML), Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), Balochistan National Party (BNP), and ANP.
The appeal claimed that the ECP’s actions were biassed against the PTI, noting the fact that the commission refused to investigate the accounts of other political parties, in contrast to how it handled the PTI accounts.
IHC Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani ordered the ECP to rule on the foreign funding matter within the next 30 days earlier this month. Justice Kayani denied a motion to keep Akbar S Babar from seeing the case’s records and to have him removed from the proceedings.
