Islamabad - In response to accusations of financial irregularities in the party funds, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Saturday said that party finances and accounts were regularly audited and available to the public as well as Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
PTI Central Information Secretary Dr Shireen Mazari strongly responded to a petition filed by founding member of PTI and its former vice president Akbar S Babar with ECP seeking an investigation into financial irregularities in the party funds.
PTI Information Secretary expressing surprise over the media referring to those formally expelled from the party as being PTI members clarified, “PTI’s finances and accounts are regularly audited and available to the public as well as being available with the ECP. Our main auditors are Munaf Ziauddin rated A Category by SBP (State Bank of Pakistan) and are affiliated with BKR Audit - an international firm.”
Dr Mazari said, “PTI, in its principled commitment to transparency, especially for our members, undertook a special audit to counter the accusations that were then being hurled by Akbar Babar and other renegades expelled from PTI.
The special audit was done by a Lahore-based firm Ahsan & Ahsan and the auditors went to Akbar Babar and other critics to ascertain their point of view.” She said that no political party would undertake such an exercise of indulging its opponents who were hurling baseless accusations.
The special audit cleared PTI and its accused members of all the charges being hurled by the Akbar Babar coterie.
She said that a group of expelled PTI members always became active, whenever PTI commenced a fund raising drive, to try and sabotage the same and this had not worked in the past and would not work again.
The party said that such members led by Akbar S Babar were expelled from the party and were no longer members so legally they could not refer to themselves as PTI members. “Akbar Babar has gathered these ex-PTI members, including some of the expelled legislators, to continue failed efforts to undermine Chairman Khan and other PTI leaders,” Mazari added.
“The PML-N, with whom S Babar now associates frequently, is naturally providing him official patronage including unrestrained air time on Radio Pakistan. The government should realise that Radio Pakistan and PTV are state institutions and are not propaganda tools for the PML-N,” she alleged.
The central information secretary said that PTI wished to repeat that the expelled members gathered under Akbar Babar’s wings had all been expelled from PTI and had nothing to do with the party. Their claiming to do so is absolutely false.
She said that in this connection, their use of fake email addresses posing to be PTI official email addresses stood exposed as all PTI official mail was sent from an insaf.pk email account.
The PTI information secretary said that despite that, in a sense of desperate rage and envy, whenever PTI was raising funds especially from overseas donors, Akbar Babar repeated his stale mantra on party finances and his diatribe against PTI leaders. Luckily, PTI’s consistent transparency and regular audits have meant that no one buys into Babar’s accusations.
Only the PML-N seeks to exploit these since they have nothing else to use in their efforts to undermine the growing support of the PTI.
She said that finally the public should know where Akbar S Babar was coming from.
He was thrown out of the party thrice but each time sought re-entry after showing repentance for past misdeeds. But each time he sought to undermine the workings of the party and had to be expelled from the party.
“PTI was also informed that Akbar Babar had been terminated from UNICEF after sexual harassment charges were brought against him,” she alleged.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) central information secretary, Dr Shireen Mazari said that the arrest warrants for Imran Khan and other political leaders were politically motivated, while the government itself will be responsible of the law and order situation in case of the arrest of the PTI chairman. Talking to media here, Dr Shireen Mazari said that Imran Khan’s stance regarding the judicial probe of electoral rigging is clear enough. “Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif can stay on his post as long as the investigations of irregularities in elections are not completed, however the sit-in will also go parallel during this period”, she said.
“The PTI chairman has already asked the government to arrest him if he has committed any offence, why does not the government arrest him”, inquired the PTI information secretary.
 She said that the arrest warrants against Imran Khan and other leaders were issued on political grounds, adding that the government itself will be responsible for the law and order situation in case of the arrest of Imran Khan.