ECP asks PTI to submit reply to scrutiny committee’s report in foreign funding case

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday directed the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) to submit its reply to the scrutiny committee’s report in the foreign funding case.

A three-member bench of the ECP, headed by the chief election commissioner (CEC), is presently hearing the case.

The election commission also directed the counsel for Akbar S. Babar, the petitioner, to complete his arguments on the next hearing.

Counsel for the PTI Advocate Anwar Mansoor said that Akbar S. Babar had no right either to file a petition or appear in the ECP in connection with the case.

CEC asked him that Babar had been attending the case hearings for the last several years. “What is the reason that the ruling party is raising objections now?” he asked.

Advocate Mansoor argued that the law said that once the scrutiny committee submitted its report, then it was only between the commission and the party concerned, and any third person could not become a party to the case.

Babar’s lawyer said that it was written in the committee’s report that the PTI had concealed its bank accounts.

He said despite the fact that the committee had asked the ruling party to submit details of its accounts several times. “But despite that it did not comply with the committee’s orders,” he added. The commission then adjourned hearing of the case until March 16.

Talking to the media after the hearing, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib said that now there was no justification for Akbar S. Babar to remain connected to the case.

He requested the ECP to also hear the foreign funding cases of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Akbar S. Babar, on the other hand, said that only last wicket of the PTI had left, which, he claimed, would fall soon. TF REPORT