ISLAMABAD: The scrutiny committee formed in March 2018 to audit the PTI’s alleged foreign funding is set to miss the latest deadline, issued to it by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Aug 27, 2020.

The six-week deadline was to expire on Oct 11, however, sources in the commission said it will expire on Oct 22 as per the issuance of the commission’s orders to the committee. Two meetings of committee members were held on Oct 15 and Oct 19 with little progress made; the third meeting was held on Wednesday.

It took 10 days for the committee, headed by the ECP director general (law), to formally receive orders from the commission and this delay has raised concern about the functioning of internal matters in the ECP.

Deadline expires today as per ECP’s orders to scrutiny committee

During the third meeting, the petitioner’s lawyer Syed Ahmed Hassan Shah assisted by Babar Iqbal Chaudhry threatened to walk out if the PTI’s latest response to alleged illegal funding from the United States was not shared with him, and the committee allowed him to peruse the documents.

Mr Shah reiterated that under the law, the committee is bound to share all documents with members including the ones from the PTI’s 23 bank accounts - most of which are concealed from the ECP - along with bank statements from all international bank accounts that also remain concealed from the commission.

He said the committee’s refusal to share the documents was against the law and influences the transparency and credibility of the scrutiny process.

The proceeding was adjourned and a fresh date was not set as the committee has sought directions from the ECP after the expiry of the second deadline to conclude a forensic scrutiny of PTI’s accounts.

Talking to the press, the petitioner and PTI founding member said that they have submitted their concerns regarding the scrutiny process to the ECP, adding that they believe the process used by the committee for the past 29 to 30 months has failed.

“The ECP order of Aug 27, 2020, has vindicated our stance and a clear manifestation of the committee’s failure to conduct transparent and credible scrutiny,” he said.

He expressed concern over what he called the inherent failure of the committee to perform the task assigned to it by the ECP and went on to say that a failed process should not be allowed to continue, considering the months already wasted.

Mr Chaudhry suggested that the only way forward for the commission is to take control of all evidence and conduct open hearings on a day to day basis to ensure transparency. He added that he intends to file a fresh application before the ECP to review and revise the process of scrutiny.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2020