Election Commission accepts opposition’s request to hear PTI foreign funding case on daily basis

ISLAMABAD– The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has accepted opposition’s application to conduct the proceedings in the foreign funding case against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on a daily basis from November 26 onwards.

Yesterday, members of the joint opposition’s Rehbar Committee lodged protest in front of the ECP with the demand to conduct daily hearings in the case, and subsequently submitted an application, appealing  the ECP to decide the case before the expiry of the chief election commissioner’s term next month.

In the absence of the Chief Election Commission (CEC) Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, two members of the ECP presided over the hearing and accepted the application.The application pointed out that the foreign funding case against the PTI had been pending with the ECP for the past five years, while all relevant documents were available for proceedings.

“We urge that in the interest of justice the case may be heard on a daily basis and decided at the earliest during the term of the CEC,” it stated.

The application addressed to CEC retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza was signed by Rehbar Committee’s convener Akram Khan Durrani of the JUI-F, PPP-Parliamentarians secretary general Farhatullah Babar, PPP secretary general Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, PML-N secretary general Ahsan Iqbal, Mian Iftikhar Hussain of the Awami National Party, Mohammad Shafiq Pasroori of the Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith, Usman Kakar of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and Tahir Bizenjo of the National Party.

Yesterday, while talking to the media in front of the ECP, Rehbar Committee chief Akram Durrani said: “It is the demand of all political parties that the hearings of the case should be done on a daily basis”.

“Today, nine members of the opposition’s Rehbar Committee have come to file an application with the Chief Election Commissioner […] we have come here with great hope as when the verdict in this case is announced, the whole PTI will vanish,” he said, adding that the government would be sent packing.

“For god’s sake, wind-up the foreign funding case as soon as possible […] the delay in this case is damaging for the country,” he added.