Farooq Naeem—AFP
A two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday suspended a single bench’s order directing the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conclude within 30 days the foreign funding case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Earlier this month, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani had directed the ECP to wrap up the foreign funding case in a month after the PTI filed applications seeking party founder Akbar S. Babar’s separation from the case; the dismissal of the case entirely; and for the PTI’s documents to be kept secret. The PTI subsequently filed an intra-court appeal challenging the single bench order, resulting in a division bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Babar Sattar setting aside the ruling.
In its order, the bench combined the PTI petition against the ECP’s alleged bias with the intra-court appeal and issued notices to 17 political parties, seeking replies on May 17. Among the parties to be served notices are the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz); Pakistan Peoples Party; Muttahida Qaumi Movement (Pakistan); Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl); Awami Muslim League; Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan; and the Awami National Party.
“We expect that the Election Commission of Pakistan will ensure that an uneven playing field is not created by treating the political parties differently,” read the division bench order. “We expect the Election Commission of Pakistan to proceed with the scrutiny process by treating all the political parties equally and in accordance with law,” it added.
The PTI’s petition has sought a judicial order for the ECP to conclude funding cases it has filed against the PMLN, PPP and other political parties at the same time as its foreign funding case. The PTI’s foreign funding case has been pending since 2014; the petition against the other parties was filed in late 2020.
The petition has also demanded that the court direct the ECP to scrutinize all political parties’ accounts through the State Bank of Pakistan and publicize the account details after the scrutiny report.
PTI foreign funding
The ruling PTI hid millions of rupees in funds from the ECP, according to a report submitted by the scrutiny committee probing the party’s funds. It claimed that the party had submitted “false information” to the ECP, adding that the hidden funds were only found through a bank statement provided by the State Bank of Pakistan.