Foreign funding charges: PML-N to move court against PTI after NA-122 by-poll

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to move the court against Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) on charge of receiving foreign funding from 'Jewish and Hindu lobbies' after NA-122 by-election on Sunday and the upcoming local government polls. This was revealed by PML-N senior leader Talal Chaudhry, while talking to Business Recorder, who claimed that the government had 'concrete' evidence of PTI receiving foreign funding from various 'illegal' sources.
But, he added, the government would wait for Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to decide the allegations and added that "we are not in any hurry to approach the court to prove the allegations." Chaudhary further stated that it had been decided to let the PTI contest the by-polls and the upcoming local government elections so as not to provide them with an excuse for losing the elections. "We are not in a hurry and we will not let them become political martyrs...we will exercise the option to take PTI to court and we have the necessary evidence but we will do so once the elections are held," Chaudhry said.
Minister for Information Pervez Rashid on Thursday levelled serious allegations against PTI Chairman Imran Khan, labelling him as an "agent of Pakistan's enemies". He alleged the PTI chairman had received funds from 'the Jewish and Hindu lobbies' to attack parliament. However, PTI has rejected the allegations, describing these as 'mere propaganda'. Senior PTI leader Dr Arif Alvi condemned the allegations, saying it was now hackneyed propaganda which no Pakistani citizen believed.
Dr Alvi, who as secretary general of the party had overseen the overseas chapters, pointed out that PTI was registered under US FARA laws. "Every penny that comes to Pakistan is through legal channels unlike the 'Hundi' and other illegal transfers done for decades by the Sharif brothers and other corrupt politicians," he said, adding the party had taken extreme care to follow all laws within Pakistan and in countries where "our diaspora lives".
He stated that a payment made in New York was falsely represented as coming from a Jewish donor. "The payment was made by cheque by a US-Pakistani national named Asif Chaudhry who bought four tickets for a fund-raiser table when Imran Khan visited the US in 2012," he said. He said Asif Chaudhry worked for Barry C Schneps, a law firm, who made the payment through his cheque book, adding it was a legal transaction paid for by a Pakistani and under US law could not be denied on the basis that he worked for a Jewish owned firm.
"It's shameful how when billions of rupees of corruption is going on and money has been taken by Nawaz Sharif and others from ISI, as alleged in the Asghar Khan case in the Supreme Court, the ECP has enough time to waste on these baseless allegations," he added.
According to legal expert Babar Sattar if the allegations against PTI proved to be true, relevant laws including People's Representatives Act, Political Parties Act and the Protection of Pakistan Act as well as election laws could come into play. Another legal expert Latif Khosa stated that if it was proved that PTI got funds from the enemies of Pakistan, a case under section 124 could be initiated against the party. However, he said ECP was the right forum for the inquiry into such allegations and the ECP had already issued notices in this regard.