ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take notice of the “false” and incorrect statement made by Minister of State for Information Farrukh Habib that the commission has allowed the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) to peruse documents related to foreign funding cases against the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

In a statement here on Tuesday, PPP’s finance secretary Senator Saleem Mandviwala termed the minister’s statement an attempt to influence the outcome of the foreign funding case being heard by the ECP against the country’s three major political parties.

Talking to reporters outside the ECP on Monday, the minister announced that the two-member bench of the commission comprising Nisar Ahmad Durrani and Shah Mohammad Jatoi had accepted his application through which he had sought access to the accounts of the two major opposition parties.

The minister alleged that the PML-N had concealed seven accounts while the PPP had hidden 12 accounts from the ECP. He said that he had requested the commission to give the ruling party access to the financial accounts of both parties for a ‘meaningful audit’.

“We will bring to light the fake accounts of PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz,” the minister had reportedly stated, adding that the government after analysing the accounts of the PPP and the PML-N would put the record before a scrutiny committee. He had also claimed that financial experts and chartered accounts would examine in detail the financial documents of the opposition parties.

“The ECP should immediately take notice of the minister’s statement,” said Mr Mandviwala while expressing his surprise as to how the minister had announced a decision of the commission which was still in the middle of the hearing of the case.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2021