Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: After Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Thursday issued notices to three more politicians over alleged use of foul language in their speeches during campaign for the upcoming general elections.

The ECP sent notices to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa former chief minister Pervez Khattak, National Assembly former speaker Ayaz Sadiq and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman for using indecent language during their election campaigns.

The ECP has asked the three politicians to either appear personally or through their counsels before it on July 21 and present an explanation in this regard.

Meanwhile, the ECP has barred Imran Khan from using unseemly language for his political rivals during election campaigning.

The ECP had taken notice of Khan’s incendiary choice of words and directed him to appear before the commission. Khan did not appear before the ECP but his lawyer and PTI leader Babar Awan was at the hearing on his behalf.

When told by the commission that Khan had used an inappropriate word for the workers of a party, Awan defended the word’s usage, saying, “Donkey is an ordinary word; even teachers use that word here.”

“Teachers have a different standing,” a four-member commission led by ECP’s Sindh member Abdul Ghaffar Soomro replied. “When major leaders use such language, it doesn’t send a good impression [of Pakistan] to the world.”

At this, the counsel countered that Khan gets called worse things. “Words such as Taliban Khan and Yahoodi are being used,” said Awan, who also played a video of PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq in the court. “You stick to the notice issued to you; others are also being sent notices,” the commission said.

The ECP then forbade Khan from using unseemly language during his campaigning, to which Awan agreed and also submitted a written statement on behalf of the PTI chairman to abide by the ECP’s orders.

The commission adjourned the case’s hearing until after the July 25 general elections, during which time the ECP will monitor Khan’s speeches to make sure he adheres to the code of conduct.

Published in Daily Times, July 20^th 2018.