If ECP has no jurisdiction, will you hurl abuses at it? CEC asks PTI

Foreign funding case

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday reserved its judgement on maintainability of the PTI foreign funding case to be announced on May 8, as Imran Khan again failed to file reply to a contempt petition filed by Akbar S Babar.

PTI lawyer Anwar Mansur Khan concluded his rebuttal of the arguments made in support questioning the authority of the petitioner to file a complaint based on which the ECP had ordered scrutiny of PTI accounts. 

He contended the law did not provide for any such provision for an ordinary citizen even if he was a member of the PTI to file petition and for ECP to entertain such a petition. When the PTI lawyer was asked about the PTI response to the contempt petition filed by Babar against Imran for casting aspersions on the integrity of the ECP while refusing to submit its accounts, the PTI lawyer Anwar Mansur Khan argued that the reply would be filed after the jurisdiction matter was decided. 

The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) took exception to the PTI stance and quipped that ‘does that imply that anyone and everyone can go about abusing the ECP without any recourse. If ECP has no jurisdiction, will (you) then hurl abuses on it’. He added that ‘maintainability of the foreign funding case and the contempt issue are two separate issues.’

When the CEC announced that he would pass an appropriate order regarding non-filing of any response to the contempt issue, the PTI spokesperson stood up with folded hands and pleaded for some more time so that PTI could file a response to the contempt petition.

After hearing the arguments of the PTI lawyer, the bench announced that it would announce the verdict on the maintainability issue in the light of the Islamabad High Court directions on May 8 and review the PTI response to the contempt petition.  

The case was first filed on November 14, 2014 by the former Central Vice President of PTI Akbar S Babar after he developed differences with PTI Chairman Imran Khan over internal corruption and abuse of laws governing political funding.

On April 1, 2015 and after scrutiny of PTI annual audit reports, the ECP had passed an order that the PTI had failed to disclose the sources and details of foreign funds received in its annual audit reports submitted before the ECP.

However, instead of submitting the accounts, the PTI challenged the jurisdiction of the ECP to scrutinise its accounts. On October 8, 2015 a five-member bench of the ECP passed a detailed order whereby it stated that only ECP was the right constitutional forum to scrutinise accounts of political parties and without any time bar.

On November 26, 2015, PTI challenged the ECP order of October 8, 2015 in the Islamabad High Court, which finally remanded the case back to the ECP on February 15, 2017 to adjudicate the matter of jurisdiction and locus standi of the petitioner before deciding the merits of the case.

Talking the media outside the Election Commission, Babar said that for anyone to invoke the high moral ground it’s required that he or she should follow the same, otherwise preaching good and practicing evil was hypocrisy. 

He argued that when Imran refused to allow his and his party’s accountability, his claim to accountability becomes hollow rhetoric and that of a hypocrite.  Babar noted that Monday’s proceedings bring hope to the PTI workers that there was light at the end of the tunnel. He said he had filed the contempt petition against Imran so that leaders no matter how powerful learn to respect constitutional bodies as that is the only way to strengthen them.

He said the PTI lawyer’s arguments that an ordinary citizen was not qualified to file a petition was in complete negation of 16 years of Imran’s politics where he promised to follow the Khulafa Rashaeddin, whereby they were accountable to the ordinary citizen.

Babar challenged Imran to form a JIT of his choice to investigate the foreign funding case and face him live on TV and let the people decide, who was truthful.  He wondered why Imran was running away from accountability. “The only obvious reason is that he is guilty and cannot face accountability,” he maintained. Babar expressed his resolve to bring truth to the public even if it means going to the Supreme Court of Pakistan.