The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s plea to combine all foreign funding cases before deciding the one related to the party.
The announcement came from a three-member ECP bench as it heard PTI’s foreign funding case, a day after the party held demonstrations outside ECP’s offices for its “biased attitude” towards the party.
The PTI counsel, however, was successful in getting an extension for presenting his arguments after Eid-ul-Fitr. During the previous hearing on April 19, the counsel had asked for three days, April 27, 28, and 29, to conclude his arguments.
During the hearing today, PTI lawyer Anwar Mansoor Khan read an Islamabad High Court (IHC) double-bench order that adjourned the 30-day limit set to decide the foreign funding case. The lawyer argued that the IHC bench had directed that all cases of foreign funding be heard simultaneously and refused to argue the case on Wednesday in spite of his commitment made on April 19.
Responding to this, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja pointed out that the IHC had made no such determination. He said that the PTI foreign funding case had been overdue for nearly eight years and needed a conclusion.
The CEC also clarified that his institution was not prepared to take any kind of pressure and that the foreign funding case would be decided purely on merit. He said injustice would not be meted out to any political party.
