Daily Times

A larger bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday dismissed the appeal of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against the decision of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in prohibited funding case. The court said that the ECP was correct in issuing a show cause notice to the PTI and rejected the petition. The IHC issued a 26-page detailed judgment on the petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI)’s Additional Secretary General Omer Ayub Khan. The decision said the appeal was being dismissed as it was filed before the time. The PTI had been issued a show-cause by the ECP on initial findings and the party could submit its stance to the institution following it. The decision further said the PTI could get the facts corrected through its answer against the show-cause notice. It was also the duty of the ECP to analyse the answer of PTI without the intention to apply the first findings, it added. The order said that the final decision of the ECP was yet awaited and the petitioner could challenge the decision again if he found reservations in final order.

The court said that it was not satisfied to analyse the facts finding report at this stage as the final decision of the ECP was yet to come and it considered that the case was filed before the time. It further said the court expected the ECP and federal government that they wouldn’t violate the rights of PTI and its chairman as the constitution protected the human rights. A larger bench consisting of IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Babar Sattar heard the PTI chief’s petition. The bench had reserved the judgment last month. In August 2022, the ECP ruled that PTI had received millions of dollars prohibited funding from abroad and had kept 13 bank accounts hidden. The data obtained from the State Bank of Pakistan reveals that all 13 accounts, disowned by PTI, were opened and operated by senior PTI management and leadership at central, provincial levels. The ECP then had served a show-cause notice to PTI which was later challenged before the IHC.