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ISLAMABAD: Instead of submitting a reply, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Monday challenged the jurisdiction of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hear the contempt case filed against him by a party dissident, Akbar S. Babar.
Representing Mr Khan as lawyer in the case for the first time, Babar Awan argued before the ECP bench that the commission did not have the constitutional powers to hear the contempt case, in which the PTI chief had been accused of committing contempt by accusing the ECP of showing bias against his party.
Mr Awan made detailed arguments on the question of the ECP powers to hear the contempt case and said that asking his client to give a reply was premature. He said that accusing someone as bias was the inherent right of the defendant and that it could not be labelled as “contempt”.
The ECP adjourned the case till July 19, asking the petitioner’s lawyer Syed Ahmed Hasan to give his rebuttal.
During the previous hearing in the case on July 4, when the PTI chairman did not submit a reply before the ECP in the contempt case despite repeated directions, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) retired Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza had declared that they would announce their verdict on July 10 without a response.
PTI’s counsel Shahid Gondal had informed the ECP bench that Mr Khan had changed his lawyer in the case and the newly-appointed lawyer, Babar Awan, would appear before the commission during the next hearing.
The ECP had issued the contempt notice to Mr Khan on Jan 24 over his “scandalous remarks” about the commission. The petitioner, who had also filed the foreign funding case against the PTI leadership, 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 with the commission. He said the PTI chairman in a TV interview said that his counsel had tendered an apology in his personal capacity and that he had not apologised.
Later, the ECP once again adjourned the hearing in the foreign funding case till Aug 16 after the PTI’s lawyer again failed to submit the financial details and accounts of the party.
Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2017
