Education Secretary Aslam Kamboh, who had been allowed to remain in their positions.
After surrendering to the federal government or sidelining a large number of senior officials, Sethi had brought in officers, who were favourites of the previous PML-Q chief minister. However, no bureaucratic changes were made in the other three provinces by the caretaker governments. Punjab was the exception for this upheaval despite the ECP order to all the provinces of the contrary.
The third witness, Rao Iftikhar, who has been summoned by the commission for Wednesday, had served as the additional CS of Punjab. He had also been appointed by the interim chief minister.
The other witnesses, who will be called by the commission later, include Nabeel Gabol, who was elected on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) ticket from NA-246 Karachi and later resigned; Sethi, Hamid Mir, PEC Sindh SM Tariq Qadri, National Database & Registration Authority (Nadra) Chairman Usman Yousaf Mobeen, Muddassir Rizvi, head of Free and Fair Election Network; and five managing directors of Postal Foundation Press, Printing Corporation of Pakistan and Security Printing Press of Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.
What first PTI witness Ishaq Khakwani, who heads the party’s task force, has produced before it is the material annexed with the petitions, which were filed in the election tribunals. His documents also included the petitions and documents submitted by the PML-N candidates to the tribunals, PML-N lawyer Shahid Hamid argued before the commission on Tuesday and said that Khakwani has not given any proof from his own side and has presented old documents.
“Khakwani is not the author or witness of these uncertified documents, which are inadmissible; and what he has produced relates to the election disputes, which have either been dismissed or are pending before the Supreme Court or an election tribunal,” Shahid Hamid said raising his objections. “He is not an agent in respect of any of the 73 election petitions and none of these documents have been obtained from proper custody.”
Advocate Salman Akram Raja, who represented the ECP, pleaded that Khakwani himself was not confident about the authenticity of the material he has produced as was clear from his note. The PTI leader has collected ‘evidence’ and ‘proofs’ from here and there, he said, adding that his affidavit was deliberately vague and did not differentiate whether or not he received or collected these documents.
However, the commission will adjudge the veracity of the material later. It made clear that it doesn’t want to get into anything relating to the decision of a Lahore election tribunal regarding unseating of Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique when a lawyer tried to bring in that judgment.As the PTI candidate, Khakwani had lost to PML-N representative Sajid Mehdi from NA-168 Vehari by bagging 54,334 votes as against his rival’s 69,049 in the 2013 general elections.