ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday suffered a dual setback when the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rejected its plea to stay proceedings in the foreign funding case and its objections to the code of conduct issued for the by-election in Lahore’s NA-120 constituency.

After hearing both sides, a five-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sardar Raza Khan gave the PTI yet another “last chance” to submit its complete financial records by September 7.

PTI lawyer Anwar Mansoor had submitted a fresh response to the ECP’s repeated calls for the record, and asked the commission to stop proceedings in the foreign funding case since a similar case was being heard by the Supreme Court.

But the petitioner’s lawyer, Ahmed Hassan, pointed out that the details sought by the ECP were missing from the response.

He said the PTI had not submitted the record, despite being asked to do so for about 21 times. He said the case had been pending since Nov 2014 and the PTI had continuously refused to produce the documents and accounts sought by the ECP.

Plea to stay foreign funding case and objections to electoral code for NA-120 rejected

PTI’s counsel told the commission that the relevant documents had already been submitted to the Supreme Court in a similar case, filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi, adding that the ECP was a party to that case.

The CEC took exception to remarks by the PTI lawyer when he said: “Perhaps there is an element of prejudice in some corner of an ECP member’s mind.”

Refuting the allegation, the CEC stated that “seeking details does not mean prejudice exists”, adding that it would have been better if the party had approached the SC with a request to halt ECP proceedings.

After scrutinising PTI’s annual audit reports, the ECP said in April 2015 that the party had failed to disclose the sources and details of foreign funds received. But instead of submitting the accounts, the PTI had challenged the ECP’s jurisdiction to scrutinise its accounts before the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The IHC, however, rejected the plea and referred the matter back to the ECP.

On Dec 1 last year, the commission also ordered the PTI to submit its accounts or face “legal consequences”. But instead of complying with the orders, the party accused the ECP of ‘political bias’, which led to a contempt application being filed against Imran Khan by Akbar S. Babar, the petitioner in the foreign funding case.

Talking to reporters outside the ECP, Mr Babar condemned the party’s delaying tactics.

“Only thieves and crooks run from justice and accountability,” he said.

But in his remarks to mediapersons, PTI leader Naeemul Haq declared that the party would never provide details of its funding to Mr Babar, who had been sacked some seven years back.

He alleged that the petition had been “planted” by the PML-N to malign Imran Khan, who was running an anti-corruption campaign in the country, adding that they had already submitted a list of US donors.

Meanwhile, the commission also turned down the request filed by PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi last week, in which he had raised objections to the code of conduct issued by the ECP for the by-election in Lahore’s NA-120 constituency.

The code bars all public office-holders, including members of the national and provincial assemblies, from campaigning for their candidates. Mr Qureshi had raised his objections in a letter to the CEC, and later met the latter to discuss the matter in person.

ECP sources told Dawn the commission had decided to turn down the PTI’s request as the code of conduct was in line with the judgement of the apex court in the Workers’ Party case.

An ECP official said the commission would soon communicate its decision to the PTI.

In his letter, Mr Qureshi had stated that being an MNA belonging to an opposition party, he did not hold any official position and was not in a position to make promises for donations or funds, or commit to undertake or announce any development project.

The bar placed by the ECP notification restricts the mandate of PTI members and essentially extinguishes the rights of an elected officebearer of a political party by prohibiting him/her from presenting the party’s policies to the electorate of NA-120, he noted.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2017