ECP’s ruling
Finally, the Election Commission of Pakistan on 2nd August has given its ruling over seven years old “foreign funding” case filed by Akber S. Baber one of the founding members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
The Election Commission of Pakistan declared that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has received prohibited funding from foreign companies and nationals which comes under ambit of Article 6 of the Political Party Order 2002, as it tells about prohibited funding and elaborates who can be a contributor of a party in Pakistan. In the same manner, if a political party is proved liable for the prohibited funding then its prohibited funds can be confiscated by the state as per Article 6(4) of PPO. Similarly, as per ruling of Election Commission, PTI is funded by foreign nationals and companies; it falls under the definition of article 6 of PPO 2002. Hence, the state is legitimately entitled to confiscate those particular funds of PTI. Therefore, the Election Commission of Pakistan issued a show-cause notice, asking the party to explain why its funds shouldn’t be frozen.
Moreover, Article 17 of Constitution of Pakistan is about freedom of association respectively, Article 17(3) of the Constitution of Pakistan says that, every political party shall account for the source of its funds in accordance with law, however PTI didn’t disclose the resources which is against the said Article of the Constitution.
Moreover, Article 13(2) of Political Party Order 2002 elaborates that the party leader shall certify by signing that, no funds from any source prohibited under this Order were received by the party, this same point is noted in para 55 of Hanif Abbasi’s case by Supreme Court. However, Imran Khan has given five certificates from 2008 to 2013 certifying that his party has not received any prohibited fund but now the ECP has ruled the factual scenario. Apart from this, facts of the case can only be established by the Election Commission of Pakistan as the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the Hanif Abbasi case declared that the facts of such cases can only be decided at the competent forum which is ECP. So, the important question arises in the current situation that, Is Imran Khan Sadiq and Ameen as per Article 62 of Constitution? Surely, the final authority lies with the Apex Court whether to approve or reject the declaration of the party’s dissolution moved by the federal government. It is doubtful what will happen in the coming days as the Election Commission of Pakistan has issued notice to the party chairman “Imran Khan” to appear on 23 Aug for further proceedings.
In Pakistan there have been several activities of political leaders which are always inconsistent with the rule of law and every time a new issue arises with new complexity. These activities are also one of the reasons behind political instability and other related issues in the country; however, omissions of competent forums can make it terrible.