ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rejected the PTI’s request to combine all foreign funding cases before deciding on the one involving the PTI on Wednesday.
The announcement was made by a three-member ECP bench during the hearing of the PTI’s foreign funding case, just one day after the party protested outside the ECP’s offices for its “biassed attitude” toward the PTI.
The PTI counsel, on the other hand, was able to obtain an extension for presenting his arguments after Eidul Fitr. At the previous hearing on April 19, the counsel requested three days to conclude his arguments, on April 27, 28, and 29.
Instead of continuing his arguments, PTI lawyer Anwar Mansoor Khan read an Islamabad High Court (IHC) double bench order suspending the 30-day deadline set by an IHC single bench to decide the foreign funding case.
The lawyer claimed that the IHC bench had ordered that all cases involving foreign funding be heard concurrently, so he refused to argue the case on Wednesday, despite his commitment made on April 19.
In response, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja stated that the IHC double bench order made no such determination and that the PTI foreign funding case had already been delayed for nearly eight years and now required an expedited resolution.
At one point, the CEC stated unequivocally that his organization is not willing to submit to any kind of pressure and that the foreign funding case would be decided solely on merit. He stated that no political party will be treated unfairly.
“There will be no injustice to any party, and we will not consider whether there are five or five lakh people present outside the Election Commission of Pakistan,” he said.
Raja explained that a review of 101 parties was conducted and that 17 of their accounts contained contradictions. Before the IHC, the commission will present its detailed position.
“We are already nearing the end of the case even before the IHC order.” The procedure must be hammered out by the commission on its own. Do you think we should get hearing dates from other courts?” He went on to say that other cases were being heard and that a detailed progress report would be presented to the IHC on May 17.
After hearing the ECP’s decision to continue proceedings, the PTI lawyer used the IHC double bench order of April 25 to violate his own April 19 commitment to conclude his arguments in three days beginning April 27. He claims that now that the IHC has suspended the 30-day limit, he will be unable to argue the case because he needs more time to prepare his arguments, which will only be possible after Eid.
Petitioner Akbar Sher Babar’s lawyer, Syed Ahmad Hassan, objected to the PTI’s new attempts to postpone the final arguments under the guise of the IHC double bench order. He stated that in this case, the petitioner is the party who has been denied fair treatment under various pretexts and that the PTI should not be allowed to misinterpret the IHC order.
According to Hassan, the PTI has already abused the law in order to delay the case, which the ECP order dated October 10, 2019, referred to as a “historic abuse of law.” He emphasized that the PTI should not be allowed to continue abusing the law or misinterpreting the latest IHC order in order to delay the case. According to the lawyer, the case has been delayed for nearly seven years and six months, 2,710 days, 65,040 hours, 180 hearings, and nine PTI writs to delay or scuttle the case.
By rescheduling the hearing for May 10, the ECP gave the PTI more time, this time under the guise of Chief Justice Athar Minallah’s order. When a journalist asked Anwar Mansoor outside the ECP after the hearing if the case would be delayed for another seven years, the council sat in his vehicle and drove away without responding.
Speaking to the media outside the ECP, Akbar S Babar stated that the PTI is fleeing justice and accountability and that the system is allowing this to happen. He stated that if anyone’s rights have been violated, it is the petitioner, who has been running from pillar to post for nearly eight years in search of justice, which is being denied to him.
Babar condemned the PTI protests demanding the CEC’s resignation, comparing them to an accused demanding the resignation of a judge deciding his fate, which he described as the most blatant example of fascism.
According to Transparency International, PTI Chairman Imran Khan should resign because he betrayed the party’s founding ideals and presided over one of the most corrupt governments in Pakistan’s history. He stated that once the PTI’s reigns are restored to those who founded it, they will be refurbished and cleansed of corruption. He claimed Imran had the opportunity to reform society, but he squandered it.
“It is past time for him to fade away rather than fanning the flames of discord because he was unable to digest his removal from power,” he added.
