Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday rejected the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) verdict against his party, saying that taking funding from foreign companies was not illegal in 2012, Aaj News reported.

Addressing the protesters gathered in different cities via video link, Imran Khan said that the law that prohibits political party’s funding from foreign companies was enacted in 2017, but his party’s case was from 2012.

The statement comes days after the ECP issued the verdict in the prohibited funding case, proving that PTI “knowingly and willfully” received funds from foreign donors.

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In its order, the commission also said that it was “constrained to hold that Imran Khan failed to discharge his obligations as mandated under the Pakistani statutes”.

Responding to these allegations, the PTI chief said that his party had received the money in 2012 from two fundraising dinners that Arif Naqvi had organised.

The former premier also reacted to the findings of the Financial Times report, saying that the businessman was charged with fraud six years later in 2018. “How could I have known about that in 2012,” he questioned.

Imran also questioned the impartiality of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja who met the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leaders prior to the judgment in the prohibited funding case against PTI.

He said that ECP had turned into a body that can make or break governments because it manipulates findings.

The PTI chief accused the ECP of conniving with the PDM parties to rig the Punjab by-elections and said that they were planning to “fix” the next general elections as well.

“This is why I attempted to use electronic voting machines (EVMs), which might have eliminated 130 of 163 election fraud techniques,” he said, adding that the PML-N and PPP obstructed the EVM machines, and ECP was in cahoots with them.

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This, according to the former prime minister, was done to control elections, and deny the people the right to choose their government.

He also criticised the federal government for “turning Islamabad into a fortress” ahead of his party’s planned protest initially scheduled outside the headquarters of the ECP.

Imran Khan asked why the government was afraid of a "peaceful" demonstration

He recalled how money was used to change loyalties during Senate elections and how Sindh House became a "market of consciences."

Imran Khan stated that the country's voter turnout was low because citizens believed their votes would not make a difference.

“Only when a citizen in a village realises that his vote may make a difference will there be a true democracy,” he added.The PTI chairman stated that when he founded the party, he lacked the means to operate it.

He claimed that Pakistanis living abroad were the first to support him because they had witnessed true democratic systems abroad and could see two mafias (PPP and PML-N) seizing control of the country.

Imran Khan stated that the PTI is the only political party in Pakistan that raises funds from the public as is the practice in developed countries.