ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission (JC) probing the alleged systematic rigging in the 2013 general elections on Tuesday commenced recording the testimony of witnesses pertaining to the case. The Supreme Court chief justice, who is heading the commission, said it was the mandate of the commission to decide who to summon and who not to summon as a witness. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) produced its witness Ishaq Khan Khakwani, aided by PTI counsel Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, to record his statement on oath. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), while cross-examining Khaqwani, raised objections to the witness produced by the PTI and 73 volumes of documents. The commission, after consulting Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, summoned three official witnesses today (Wednesday) for examination and directed all political parties to prepare their questions for these three witnesses, as they cannot be summoned again. The witnesses summoned for today are former chief secretary to the chief minister Punjab, Javed Iqbal, former additional chief secretary to the former caretaker government of Punjab, Rao Iftikhar, and provincial election commissioner (Punjab) during the 2013 elections. The PTI had provided the commission a list of names of 13 witnesses for examining them. “Let us examine these witnesses today (Wednesday) and the rest will be issued notices to appear before us and we will do it on Thursday at 11.30am,” Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk ruled. Similarly, the commission also ruled that at the moment it was not going to decide about the inspection of polling bags in 65 constituencies to ascertain the correctness of election record, suggested by PPP leader Aitizaz Ahsan. The CJ said that they will have to issue notices to the returned candidates before opening the bags.The PML-N and ECP raised objections to the documents presented by Ishaq Khaqwani. The CJ asked Shahid Hamid, counsel for PML-N, that at the moment the documents had been produced before the commission and he could raise objections later on. “The relevancy of documents, produced by the PTI, will be determined later on,” the CJ observed. Shahid Hamid contended that the 73 volumes of documents submitted by the PTI are all related to election tribunals adding that out of 73, about 40 cases had been dismissed by the tribunals and 13 were pending before the Supreme Court. “What we can do is to retire for 15 minutes and whatever objections you may have you should give us in writing,” Justice Nasirul Mulk told Shahid Hamid. Abdul Hafeez Pirzada submitted that a witness can come and produce documents but he cannot be cross-examined. “This is not the time,” Pirzada added. The CJ observed every political party has the right to cross-examine every witness, adding that there was no restriction on political parties for producing any witness at any time during the proceedings. Pirzada submitted that the commission can follow the procedure to enable it to complete its inquiry after making a distinction between different materials. “We have collected the documents from proper place,” Pirzada contended adding that most of the material of evidence was collected from government sources, including the website of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Later, when the commission resumed hearing after 15 minutes, Shahid Hamid submitted that the documents, submitted by Khaqwani, were not certified. “He is not the author or a witness to any documents which are attached in Vol.51, wherein he alleged that the NA-168 elections were rigged,” Shahid Hamid said. The learned counsel further alleged that Khaqwani was not an agent in respect of any of the 73 election petitions and none of these documents had been obtained from proper custody. He contended that Khaqwani was not the author or was named in the White Paper earlier issued by the PTI on rigging in the 2013 general elections. “These documents were not admissible in terms of Section 10 of the ordinance that relates to disputes either settled by the Election Tribunal or the appeal pending before the Supreme Court,” Shahid Hamid submitted. Similarly, Salman Akram Raja, counsel for the ECP, contented that the affidavit, submitted by Khaqwani, was left vague deliberately and did not differentiate whether or not he had received or collected these documents. Justice Amir Hani Muslim, another member of the commission, observed that the Qanoon-e-Shahdat was not strictly applicable in these proceedings.Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan observed that the counsel had the right to express reservations about the authenticity and genuineness of the documents. Barister Aitizaz Ahsan also raised an objection to the People’s Muslim League (Pakistan) application against his party. He said he had not yet been given a copy of the said document. At this, the commission directed its secretary to provide Ahsan a copy of the documents. On the last hearing, Khwaja Azhar Rashid, representing the People Muslim League (Pakistan), had alleged that the MQM during the 2013 general elections was responsible for rigging in urban Sindh while the PPP had played its role in rural Sindh. The commission observed that at the moment they were not deciding about the inspection of polling bags in 65 constituencies to ascertain the correctness of the election record, suggested by PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan. The CJ said that they will have to issue notices to the returned candidates before opening the bags.The PML-N counsel, Shahid Hamid, submitted that if the commission admits his plea, then the commission itself will select the constituency. He further submitted that the applicant has furnished the list of constituencies in Punjab and he may file an application wherein he will request that the inspection of bags should be done in every province. Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan said that he can reduce the volume of opening of bags to 10 constituencies instead of 65. “At the moment, we are not going to issue notices to the returned candidates,” the CJ ruled. The PTI had provided to the commission a list of names of witnesses that included ex-MNA Nabeel Gabol, caretaker Chief Minister Punjab Najam Sethi, former Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister Punjab Javed Iqbal, former Additional Chief Secretary to the former caretaker government of the Punjab Rao Iftikhar, Geo News anchor Hamid Mir and provincial election commissioner (Punjab) during the 2013 Elections. It had also provided to the commission other names of witnesses including managing directors (who held office at the time of acquisition and printing of ballot papers for the 2013 General Elections) of the Printing Corporation of Pakistan Press (PCPP) at Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad; managing director of Pakistan Security Printing Corporation Karachi (who held office at the time of acquisition and printing of ballot papers for the 2013 General Elections); managing director of Postal Foundation Press at Islamabad (who held office at the time of printing of ballot papers for the 2013 General Elections), provincial election commissioner (Sindh), FAFEN programme head Muddasar Rizvi, and other relevant officers and representative of FAFEN, and chairman Nadra.The commission had issued notices to the witnesses with the direction to appear before it on May 6, 2013.
