The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has submitted notices to all the parliamentary parties regarding the foreign funding case and has directed them to submit their responses by February 24.
The order for the issuance of the notices was given by a five-member bench of the ECP, convened by the chief election commissioner (CEC). 19 parties have been served the notice.
Moreover, counsel Shah Khawar appeared before the ECP on behalf of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Therein, the ECP received reports from the party’s finance department for the scrutiny of their financial statements.
The election commission directed for a copy of the report to also be provided to Khawar, asking him to review the report and file his objections, if any.
Separately, Prime Minister Imran Khan during an address in Wana, South Waziristan, challenged for the case’s hearings to be broadcasted live on television.
The premier further asserted that it was only the PTI that raised political funds.
Speaking of the opposition’s foreign funding sources, he stated that “these parties [opposition] and I both know what foreign funding is”.
A day earlier, the ECP, while responding to a protest demonstration staged by the PDM outside its office, had said that the election body was fully aware of its constitutional responsibilities.
“We are committed to fulfilling our responsibilities without succumbing to any pressures,” the ECP had said in a handout issued on Tuesday as opposition parties gathered outside its Islamabad office to protest against a delay in the investigations of the foreign funding case against the ruling party.
It had said that the election commission is ready to hold free and fair polls at any time.
The election commission further had rejected the allegations of slow progress in the foreign funding case and said that it had made considerable progress in the case.
“We have further directed the scrutiny committee to hold its proceedings into the case thrice in a week,” the handout had read.
Earlier, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz, while addressing a protest outside the ECP, that is pursuing a seven-year-old petition accusing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of receiving foreign funding during years leading to and after the 2013 election, had said that the opposition parties had gathered to remind the regulatory body of its “constitutional obligations.”
Questioning the “unacceptable” delay in the trial, which is set to resume tomorrow (Wednesday), Maryam had sought to remind the chief election commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, of the “constitutional” position of his office.
“This [ECP] is the institution that the Constitution has made responsible for honouring the public vote and this is the institution that had to get respect for the public vote,” she had added.
