ISLAMABAD: Former ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) categorically accused the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Wednesday, of denying it a level playing field in the foreign funding case, demanding of the electoral body to bring the proceedings of this case related to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) at par with those of the PTI.

“You are only focussing on the PTI, completely overlooking the PML-N and the PPP. Things are not going to work like that,” PTI counsel Anwar Mansoor Khan told a three-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja that heard the case.

“You have to bring this case against the PML-N and the PPP at the same advanced level where the proceedings related to the PTI stand today,” he said.

The PTI counsel read out an order issued by the Islamabad High Court (IHC), wherein, the court dismissed another order passed by the IHC in which it directed the ECP to decide foreign funding case within 30 days.

“Where in this order is it written that the ECP should wait for the completion of the Scrutiny Committee’s investigation related to the two political parties before proceeding ahead with the case related to the PTI?” asked bench member Nisar Ahmed Durrani.

Khan replied said, “This is not written in this case but it is a fact that the foreign funding case against the PTI is being heard on a daily basis, whereas, adjournments up to three months are given in the same case against the PML-N and the PPP. We moved application to initiate foreign funding case against these two parties in 2017. The Scrutiny Committee should have been formed there and then,” the PTI lawyer said.

“Please don’t get emotional. We hold you in high esteem. We are here to listen to you,” the CEC told Khan, the former attorney general for Pakistan (AGP.)

“I am not getting emotional. I am only replying to the honourable bench member,” the PTI counsel responded.

“You mean to say the case should be disposed of?” Shah Muhammad Jatoi, another bench member, asked the defence counsel.

“We only want that there should be a level playing field for everyone. No party in this case should feel that it is being targeted,” the counsel replied.

He said that the PTI’s related documents were handed over to other parties in the case but their documents were not being provided to the PTI.

The CEC said the bench has already ordered that the PTI be provided with the required documents of the other political parties.

At one point, things between the defence side and the bench turned bitter when Anwar Mansoor Khan sought adjournment in the case till after Eid, saying he needed time to conclude lengthy arguments.

He said he would conclude his arguments in two weeks, and it would not take any longer than a week after Eid.

The CEC said that this case has already been lingering for “eight years.”

“You can pass any order you want but I will not give my arguments today,” an infuriated Khan remarked.

The CEC responded that the bench granted adjournments in the case on the PTI’s request in the past and fixed hearings on dates of the PTI’s choice.

“We have waited for eight years for this case to conclude. Let’s wait for two more weeks,” CEC Raja said, entertaining the defence lawyer’s request for adjournment.

Later, the defence lawyer apologised for heated exchange of arguments with the bench.

Ahmad Hassan, the counsel for Akbar Sher Babar, the petitioner against the PTI, said the PTI objected to the involvement of Babar in foreign funding case and wanted him to be removed from the case. “On the one hand, they (the PTI) want to remove the petitioner in this case. On the other hand, they want to get involved in proceedings related to the PML-N and the PPP,” he said.

Referring to the PTI’s mammoth countrywide protests on Tuesday outside the ECP offices against “anti-PTI and biased CEC,” Raja, the CEC, said the ECP would perform its duties according to its constitutional and legal mandate “whether there are five people outside the ECP or many.”

The case was adjourned till coming May 10.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022