Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to challenge in court the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) verdict on the prohibited funding case, PTI Central Deputy Secretary Information Farrukh Habib said on Tuesday.
“We will come up with a sufficient reply to the notice”, said the PTI leader.
The reaction came after the electoral watchdog announced its much-awaited decision in the PTI foreign funding case.
The ECP bench in its reserved verdict said prohibited funding against PTI was proven. ECP, in its unanimous verdict, ruled that the party received funds from business tycoon Arif Naqvi and from 34 foreign nationals.
Habib said the fact that this was not a foreign funding case, but rather a case about prohibited funding was the victory of PTI’s narrative.
He went on to say that those who propelled the narrative of the case being about “foreign funding” had severely been disappointed that the PTI was not banned.
Earlier the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had ordered the electoral watchdog to initiate a probe into the accounts of all the political parties without any discrimination.
PTI leader and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry also reiterated that the ECP’s decision proved this was never a case of foreign funding.
Admitting that most of the money was from overseas Pakistanis, Fawad Chaudhry said, “I don’t understand why PML-N, JUI, and PPP have declared overseas Pakistanis as the enemy,” adding that they considered overseas Pakistanis to be the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and they would continue to rely on them for our funding.
PTI foreign funding case
The foreign funding case against ousted prime minister Imran Khan’s PTI dates back to 2014 when Akbar S Babar, a disgruntled, founding member of the party, approached the ECP, accusing that the party had received funds from foreign individuals and firms. Pakistan’s electoral law prohibits political parties from accepting such donations.
Govt wants Khan disqualified
Meanwhile, the coalition government has decided to request Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial to constitute a full court to hear the reference it is going to file in the wake of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) ruling on PTI’s prohibited funding case.
All the allies were unanimously on board for taking strict legal action in light of the ECP’s verdict, including the disqualification of the PTI Chairman Imran Khan, sources told a top media outlet.
The sources said the meeting also discussed the possibility of placing PTI leaders’ names on the Exit Control List (ECL) to prevent them from leaving the country.
The coalition partners constituted a legal committee and political committee to follow up on the ECP verdict in both aspects.