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ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) adjourned the hearing of a contempt case against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Monday, giving him one more chance to file a written response.
Appearing before a full bench of the ECP, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, PTI’s counsel stated that the response was ready but Mr Khan had been unable to sign it owing to his busy schedule and visit to Karachi.
The contempt proceedings against Mr Khan were initiated after he alleged, in a review application filed on Jan 9, that the ECP was politically biased and in league with the petitioner demanding scrutiny of PTI’s accounts.
The ECP, in its order of Jan 16, rejected the PTI’s allegations and took strong exception to the use of “filthy and totally false” remarks against a constitutional institution. The order had stated that “no civilised person is expected to malign constitutional institutions in the manner in which it is so done”. The order had gone on to accept the PTI lawyer’s unconditional apology subsequently disowned by Mr Khan. The ECP then initiated contempt proceedings noting that there was no apology on behalf of the PTI chief.
Mr Khan was issued a contempt notice on Jan 24, over his “scandalous remarks” about the ECP. The contempt petition was filed by Akbar Babar, a founding member of the PTI, who was also the petitioner in the PTI foreign funding case.
Mr Babar had informed the commission that Mr Khan had accused the ECP of being biased in the foreign funding case, following which his counsel had tendered an apology to the commission. He said the PTI chairman, in a TV interview, however, said that his counsel had tendered an apology in his personal capacity and that he (Mr Khan) had not apologised.
When the contempt proceedings began, the PTI had initially insisted that Mr Khan would file a reply once the matter of ECP’s jurisdiction in the foreign funding case was decided.
A written response was eventually submitted by PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry on May 31, but the ECP rejected it and gave Mr Khan a week to file a reply.
Commenting on the contempt proceedings, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Daniyal Aziz said his party had always respected state institutions but Mr Khan had ridiculed them. He said that while PML-N leaders had presented themselves for accountability, the PTI chief was trying to avoid it.
Mr Babar said Mr Khan had failed to submit replies in the cases pending with the ECP. He quipped that Mr Khan, the so-called flag bearer of justice, was trampling the rudiments of justice.
Commenting on the recently held PTI intra-party polls, he claimed that party workers had rejected the polls as most of them had not participated in the process.
PTI’s central information secretary Shafqat Mehmood, however, rejected the allegation that the PTI was trying to evade accountability.
“That is the PML-N’s style, not ours,” he said, and alleged that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law Captain Muhammad Safdar was not ready to appear before the joint investigation team investigating the Sharif family in the Panama Papers case.
He said a reply to the contempt notice had been filed once and would be filed again.
Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2017
