ISLAMABAD: The government has once again questioned what it called an “unbalanced” attitude of courts towards former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan.

“It is no more a secret that Imran Khan is given undue relaxations in the court which is not being done in the case of Nawaz Sharif,” Privatisation Minister Daniyal Aziz said at a news conference at the Press Information Department (PID) on Thursday.

“Imran Khan does not respect courts, rather commits contempt of court, and has confessed to having received foreign funding for his party. Even then his apology is accepted and long dates of hearings of his cases are given whereas Nawaz Sharif is given only 24 to 72 hours to appear before the courts,” he said.

“On the one hand, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is being given schedule to follow case timelines and on other there is no strict timeline for PTI cases,” Mr Aziz said, adding that level playing field should be given to every one and all cases should be treated equally.

Initially, he said, Imran Khan even did not appear before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) but later he not only appeared before it in person but also tendered an apology silently.

The minister said that under Elections Act 2017 foreign funding was forbidden for any registered political party and Mr Khan had confessed in the court that he had “received foreign funding and gambled” to run his party but no action was being taken against him.

Not only Daniyal Aziz but many other leaders of the ruling PML-N, including Nawaz Sharif, have been complaining about “discriminatory attitude adopted by the courts and other state organs to the party”.

Mr Aziz said that Mr Khan had received funds from the US Justice Department in the name of missing persons. Similarly, he received $2 million from a person in Dubai.

“Imran Khan has said during a TV show that he sold even his car and remained involved in gambling through one of his friends to run his party,” the minister said and played the video grab of the PTI chief’s interview to a private news channel wherein he admitted to have gambled for collecting funds for the party.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2017