Foreign funding case: PML-N, PPP yet to address ECP queries

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the two mainstream opposition parties, are yet to address the queries of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) regarding the evidence they submitted in the foreign funding case.

Last month, the Scrutiny Committee of the ECP hearing the foreign funding case scrutinized the evidence submitted by all the three major political parties - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), PML-N and PPP - related to the case and asked them to respond to the objections as well as relevant questions raised by the committee, Business Recorder has learnt.

So far, only the PTI has responded to the relevant queries while PML-N and PPP have not yet submitted replies to the questions raised by the Scrutiny Committee, an ECP official told Business Recorder.

The three-member Scrutiny Committee is headed by ECP Director General (Law) Muhammad Arshad as its chairman and included DG (Audit) Defence Services Masood Akhtar Sherwani and Controller Accounts Air Force Muhammad Faheem as members.

The ECP source said that in case the PML-N and PPP fail to respond to the committee's objections/questions, the committee is legally mandated to decide the case accordingly.

In November 2019, PTI submitted its financial details before the ECP including the details of its LCC (life cycle costing) account along with a detailed documentation which included the details of the PTI's overseas donors, details of related bank transactions, relevant bank statements, and receipts of relevant financial activities, sources privy to the matter told Business Recorder.

On the other hand, the PML-N and PPP did not submit any documentary evidence in the case and merely submitted one-page replies in November last year, it is learnt.

On January 25, Prime Minister Imran Khan moved the Supreme Court against the Islamabad High Court's order issued on December 4, 2019, in which the court declared Akbar Sher Babar a member of the ruling party PTI.

In the related petition moved in the SC, the PM took the stance that Akbar S Babar is not a PTI member since 2011 and therefore the ECP is not authorized to hear the Foreign Funding case filed by him in the electoral body against the ruling party on the grounds that he is not a PTI member.

The matter has been discussed in the ECP and it has been decided that the commission would maintain status quo; continue the proceedings of the Foreign Funding case, a source privy to the matter said.

"There is no constitutional or legal bar on the court to continue hearing any case related to which a petition is moved in the superior judiciary unless the court concerned stops the ECP from hearing the said case or issues any stay order. In this case, the apex court has not directed the ECP against hearing the case. So, there is no reason for us not to go ahead with the case's hearing," the source said.

He, however, said the commission would not issue any verdict in the foreign funding case till the PM's petition is decided by the SC. "If the ECP decides foreign funding case and the commission's verdict collides with that of the SC, the commission's decision will lose legality. Keeping this in view it's better to wait for the court judgement," the insider said.