Islamabad :
In the hearing of the foreign funding case against PTI, the party’s lawyer has taken a stand that under the law, dual nationals are allowed to give funds to political parties.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja heard the PTI’s foreign funding case.
During the hearing, PTI lawyer Anwar Mansoor raised an objection against the ECP, saying that it was not fully operational as it was operating without two of its members who retired in 2019.
He also referred to Article 218 of the Constitution, which stipulates the formation of a permanent Election Commission consisting of a Chairman and four members from each province.
He said that according to Pakistani law, political parties with dual citizenship can be given funds. Lawyer Anwar Mansoor took the position that the Election Commission is not fully functional, this is my objection to point it out.
Anwar Mansoor referred to Article 218 of the Constitution and said that the Election Commission could not issue an order on it, the Commission should be fully present, it could have separate benches or benches.
The Chief Election Commissioner asked what would be said about the 30-day court order. On this Anwar Mansoor said that I will start arguments.
PTI lawyer Anwar Mansoor was of the view that the scrutiny committee had made a comparative study of Pakistani and Indian laws. No citizen in India can hold dual citizenship. Anwar Mansoor said that the scrutiny committee had corrected the documents provided by Akbar S. Babar. Akbar S. Babar waved the documents and talked out of context.
Anwar Mansoor said that his assistant lawyers would assist the commission on the issue of accounts. He said that it would take 3 days to complete the arguments. He had informed at the last hearing that they would not be available from April 20.
The Chief Election Commissioner said that the hearing would be held for three consecutive days next week, after which the Election Commission adjourned further hearing till next week.
It may be recalled that following the order of the Islamabad High Court regarding the disposal of PTI’s foreign funding case in 30 days, the Election Commission had decided to hear the case on daily basis which has started from today.
The Islamabad High Court issued the order after it had rejected two petitions of PTI against the ECP’s order. The ECP dismissed the foreign funding case and sued its petitioner Akbar S. Babar. And rejected the request to keep PTI documents confidential.
In addition to directing the Election Commission of Pakistan to close the case within a month, the detailed order also stated that inquiries, inquiries, investigations to reach the mandate of the duty assigned to the Election Commission in accordance with Article 17 (3). There can be no restriction on the adoption of any verification process. If it is read in conjunction with the active provisions of PPO 2002, then if any funding of the party has been obtained from illicit sources then The reputation of the party will be affected.
A report compiled by the Election Commission of Pakistan’s scrutiny committee came out on January 4, confirming that PTI had received funds from foreign nationals and companies, disclosed less funds and opened dozens of its own banks. Keep accounts secret.
It may be recalled that PTI’s foreign funding case has been pending since November 14, 2014. The case was filed by PTI defector Akbar Babar, who accused the party of serious financial irregularities in funding from Pakistan and abroad.
