ECP ordered to decide foreign funding case against PTI within 30 days

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has rejected the petition filed by Akbar S. Babar against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for w...

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has rejected the petition filed by Akbar S. Babar against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for withholding the record of foreign funding case filed in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Given.

 

Election Commission's decision upheld - File Photo: Radio Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued a safe order on a petition seeking withholding of record of foreign funding case from Akbar S. Babar.

 

Read more: PTI challenges ECP decision on party funding

The court rejected the PTI request to stop giving the record of the foreign funding case to Akbar S. Babar and upheld the decision of the Election Commission in this regard.

The decision of the Election Commission to reject the petitions filed by PTI in the Islamabad High Court on January 25 and January 31 was challenged.

The written decision states that according to the claims made by the petitioner (PTI), he cannot exercise any legal right when an agreement has been reached to allow the other party (Akbar S. Babar) to attend the hearing. Who have provided information to the Election Commission or the Scrutiny Committee.

The court said that on this basis, the petition filed by the second party Akbar Sher Babar to stop him from attending the hearing was not valid and the matter has already been settled by the court.

The written decision said that while rejecting the application, the ECP is directed to decide the pending matter in the next 30 days after hearing the parties in accordance with the law.

Read also: Islamabad High Court rejects PTI request to keep foreign funding record 'secret'

It may be recalled that the prohibited foreign funding case against PTI has been pending in the Election Commission since November 2014.

Last month, PTI Secretary General Asad Umar had approached the Islamabad High Court to challenge the ECP March 15 decision. It also rejected a request to keep the source of funding in the case secret.

The PTI Secretary General had said in the petition that the ECP has been informed in detail about the reasons for keeping the complainant away from its proceedings and not sharing the record including the details obtained from the State Bank of Pakistan.

He said that the ECP had failed to understand the real issue in this case, which was in the report of the ECP scrutiny committee.

The petitioner had said that the record of Akbar S. Babar has not been submitted, therefore it should be kept confidential, he had requested the Islamabad High Court to share this record of ECP with the complainant. Put the decisions aside and allow it to be part of the foreign funding case.