PTI asks IHC to stop ECP action in foreign funding case

In a petition submitted to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) contests the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) denial of the request to cross-examine witnesses in the case involving unlawful funding.

According to the PTI, the court should invalidate the show-cause notice that the ECP issued since it lacked “legal power” and halt the case until the decision is made.

The electoral body, according to the PTI, had deprived the party of the chance to make a convincing defense by refusing to reexamine the material and treating the show-cause action as an indivisible procedure.

The petition made a point of requesting that the panel call the witnesses who gathered the evidence.

The commission’s decision to deny the petition on the validity of the show-cause notice, according to the PTI, infringed fundamental rights.

The petition demanded that the March 22 ruling be overturned and that the show-cause notice be deemed unlawful because it was reportedly not issued by a designated official.

Before this, the ECP explained in its thorough decision, which was made public on Friday, why it had rejected the PTI’s request to question witnesses in person, including the relevant bank executives, and that the procedure for seizing any illegal monies the party had received had already begun.

In its order, the ECP noted that granting the request for cross-examination at this time would require restarting the entire case, which had been resolved in August of last year. It explained that the confiscation of the illegal contributions or donations that the party had received was the focus of the current procedures to carry out last year’s conclusions.