Failure to appear: ECP to declare Imran Khan, Fawad Chaudhry, Asad Umar absconders

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan said Tuesday that it would start proceedings under Rule 512 against Imran Khan, Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry to declare them absconders if they failed to appear before the commission.

A four-member bench of the ECP, headed by Nisar Durrani, heard the contempt of the ECP and chief election commissioner case against the PTI chief and two other leaders.

Lawyer Naveed Anjum told the bench that Anwar Mansoor, the lawyer in this case, was busy in the high court in the case filed against the ECP by Farrukh Habib.

Fawad Chaudhry was in Karachi, Asad Umar was out of the city, and Imran Khan was injured, he submitted, adding an application was being filed for their exemption from appearance.

A bench member asked the PTI lawyer how many times he would seek an exemption on this basis.

“Are important people not bound by the law to appear?” he observed. He noted that the high court suspended the warrants they had issued while also ordering them to continue the proceedings. They were summoned because charges had to be filed against them.

The PTI lawyer told the bench that Imran and two other leaders would appear before the ECP in the next hearing. The hearing was adjourned until February 1.