ISLAMABAD: As Pandora’s box of foreign funding opens, it has been learned that four major political parties of Pakistan hired services of different firms in the United States for fundraising.
According to the report of a private TV channel on Saturday, these parties are: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), and All Pakistan Muslim League (APML).
Citing relevant documents, the report said the firms registered in the US were tasked with raising funds for these political parties.
The PTI hired the services of the highest number of firms for the purpose, according to the documents. The documents revealed that a firm was registered under the name PTI USA LLC.
The documents also disclosed that another firm was registered under the name of Sajid Burki through, which PTI collected $2.344 million in 2010. In 2014, a Pakistani-US citizen Aftab Shah transferred $75,000 to the party.
Similarly, Sajjad Burki and Faisal Irshad also raised $75,000 in 2015 in the US and funded the party with $117,000 in 2017.
The documents revealed that MQM-P also registered a firm as a non-profit organization (NPO) in the US.
The address mentioned in the documents was 90 (Nine Zero) Karachi, which was the headquarters of MQM before it parted ways with founder Altaf Hussain. Abdul Rehman and Aijaz Siddiqui raised funds for the political party abroad and these funds were used in various projects of the party.
APML – which is headed by former president Pervez Musharraf – also registered All Pakistan Muslim League LLC in the US. The political party hired the services of three firms along with the services of Raza Bukhari and Adeel Shah.
Some $270,000 were raised for Musharraf’s party. The documents showed that APML raised $130,000 in 2011 and $33,500 in 2012.
The PPP also registered a firm in the US for fundraising in the name of former president Asif Ali Zardari.
