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Friday March 29, 2024

Foreign Funding case: Scrutiny committee to hear PTI case on daily basis

By Mumtaz Alvi
November 27, 2019

ISLAMABAD: The Scrutiny Committee of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday asked the PML-N and PPP to share details of their (fund) donors and will meet again to take up the foreign funding cases on November 29.

Similarly, the Scrutiny Committee deliberated on the foreign funding case, concerning the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and now will resume hearing on November 28, it was learnt. The PTI was represented by its legislator from Faisalabad Farrukh Habib and a new lawyer, who assured the fullest cooperation to the committee.

On behalf of both PPP and PML-N, their lawyers appeared before the committee, which handed over certain questions with regards to their sources of funding and details of donors. All the three funding cases were taken up separately.

The Scrutiny Committee has been instructed by the ECP to hold hearing on daily basis to wrap up the proceedings regarding the PTI funding case.

Talking to media persons,Farrukh Habib, who had moved the Election Commission in 2017, alleging irregularities in the foreign funding of PPP and PML-N, said they had provided data of 40,000 donors to the Election Commission, whereas PML-N was unable to produce record of 400 donors. Farrukh, who is also parliamentary secretary for railways, said that PML-N had never thought of ever facing questions about its sources of funding. “Now questions will be asked about the funding and they will have to give answers on PML-N funding from UK as well,” he noted.

He said PTI would put more questions once PML-N provided answers to the questions, presented to them by the Scrutiny Committee. He added PML-N had faced defeat in the no-trust move against the Chairman Senate, had failed Azadi March and pushed foreign funding case against PTI, which would now haunt them and they would have to provide answers to questions when they would provide identity cards and NICOPs of the donors within two days.

He referred to the judgement in the Hanif Abbasi case and said that audit of all political parties should be carried out without any discrimination. “We want hearing of the cases against our rivals on daily basis so that facts are put before the nation,” he emphasised.

PML-N leader Mohsin Shahnwaz Ranjha said his party had already submitted all the related details and urged the Chief Election Commissioner that the PTI funding case be decided before the end of his term. “The case against PML-N is a desperate bid to divert attention from the PTI foreign funding case,” he claimed. He explained that PML-N neither had any account or company in Dubai, Australia or the United States, whereas PTI had received millions of dollars from abroad and concealed it and issued incorrect statements thereon while PML-N had declared all the details.

PML-N leader alleged that the ruling PTI had tried to render the Election Commission redundant while the ruling party was a security risk for the country, having received funds from those, who had not been administered oath of allegiance to Pakistan.

The case against PTI was filed way back in November 2014 by one of its founding members, former information secretary and vice-president Akbar S Babar, who had claimed that there were massive financial irregularities in handling of foreign funding to the tune of nearly dollars 3 million. This charge has been denied outright by PTI, which alleged the move is politically-motivated.