Political parties have no
money in their accounts then how they are holding protests, rallies, questions PTI counsel

NAWAZ SHARIF   -  Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja on Tuesday said that scrutiny of political financing was an important duty of the Commission and for that purpose the political finance wing of the ECP had been upgraded.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, Shah Muhammad Jatoi and Nisar Ahmed Durrani heard the PTI Foreign Funding case.

The CEC said that Political Finance Wing of the ECP had recently been strengthened and augmented to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities. He further said that the ECP had scrutinised accounts of over 100 political parties.

During the hearing of the case, PTI lawyer Anwar Mansoor claimed that most political parties had not shown a single penny in their accounts but they are holding meetings and staging protests. However, he questioned, how could they manage these things without money?

The PTI counsel Anwar Mansoor Khan read out the US Foreign Registration Act that demands registration of agents designated to collect donations by foreign political parties in the US. He said the funding collected in the US was according to US law and if any prohibited funding was received the responsibility rests with the agent.

The PTI lawyer Anwar Mansoor claimed that if the party had been funded by foreign companies or nationals then the ECP should confiscate prohibited funding but could not dissolve the party.

Talking to the media outside the ECP, petitioner Akbar S Babar criticised the recent statements of PTI Chairman Imran Khan and said his statements are tantamount to undermining the constitutional bodies such as the judiciary, Election Commission of Pakistan, and the Establishment.

He said pitching the people of Pakistan against the Army is the greatest conspiracy against the nation and only serves the interests of our enemies. He said Imran Khan’s demand for the resignation of the CEC who is hearing a case where he is an accused is pure fascism.

Babar said the real conspiracy was to illegally fund a political party to gain power, allow it to ruin institutions and the economy and pitch people against institutions. He said Pakistan cannot be made hostage to the unending demands of Imran Khan.

He said assuming his demand for fresh elections is acceded to; he would demand a new ECP of his choice followed by electoral results of his liking, adding that if Imran Khan was not satisfied with election results he would demand yet another fresh election.

Later on, the ECP adjourned hearing of the case till 10:30 am on Wednesday.