The verdict is out after seven years and eight months and it is baklava for the opponents of Imran Khan.
The Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) 70-page decision on prohibited funding case – filed by PTI founding member Akbar S. Babar – is as per anticipations.
Post-verdict scenarios for Khan are almost clear now: he could face disqualification for holding party and public offices, the PTI could be banned or at least party’s “illegally received” funds could be confiscated. So, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s chairman has the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head at every moment. His rivals enjoy the situation and perhaps the decision was the last hope for them to control the unbridled horse. Riding the crest of popularity, the ousted prime minister was confident he could defeat all the political forces against him. He had somehow proved his guts in the recent by-elections of Punjab. But now the fingers crossed even on his political fate.
Following the verdict, the leaders of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) held back-to-back pressers where they claimed the charge sheet proved PTI Chairman Imran Khan was a certified liar who submitted false affidavits to the ECP.
“The verdict charge sheets Imran Niazi [sic] for violating the Constitution, submitting false affidavits [and] accepting foreign money. The nation should ponder over the implications of his politics funded by foreigners,” tweeted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The development came as constituent parties of the ruling coalition government (PDM, PPP) had called upon the ECP to announce the verdict at the earliest. They also met the ECP officials including the chief election commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja on Friday to convince the electoral body to announce its reserved verdict.
From PML-N’s Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to Rana Sanaullah, Azam Nazir Tarar and Marriyum Aurangzeb, everyone welcomed the decision. The PPP’s Khursheed Shah, Farhatullah Babar and JUI-F’s Hafiz Hamdullah also declared the decision as the victory of the constitution. Even the Jamaat-e-Islami and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan felt satisfaction over the development.
Labelling Khan as a “liar and money launderer”, Maryam Nawaz said that Khan was the “only politician of Pakistan who had been proven, in a single judgment with irrefutable evidence, to be a liar, corrupt, a money launderer, and acting on the influence of external forces”.
“The idol of patriotism fell on its face today,” she tweeted minutes after the ECP decision.
Meanwhile, Abbasi said decision proved Khan as the “biggest thief” of the country.
The PML-N leader said Khan received funding worth Rs1.5 billion through illegal means and those who donated to PTI include people and entities from India and Israel, he claimed.
He questioned if the amount was meant for welfare, then how were Rs550 million transferred into the accounts of the political party?
Marriyum Aurangzeb said the decision confirmed Khan committed wrongdoing. The information minister claimed that a thief, and liar involved in foreign funding and money laundering has finally been caught after a period of eight years, demanding resignation of Imran Khan from the position of PTI chairman.
PPP leaders hailed the chief election commissioner, members of the commission, and Akbar S. Babar – the founding member of the PTI party who filed the petition in 2014 – after the verdict.
“It’s most instructive that those painted as heroes thru [sic] relentless propaganda for years turn out to be villains. Those who stand out today in the nation’s forward march are Sikandar Sultan Raja, the ECP and Babar,” tweeted PPP’s stalwart Farhatullah.
“The PTI is exposed now,” said JI chief Sirajul Haq while talking to reporters in Quetta. “Saaf chali shaffaf chali narrative of the PTI burst into air,” said Siraj while mentioning the slogan of the former ruling party.
TLP head Saad Rizvi made similar comments during a conversation with journalists at party headquarters in Lahore.
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