ISLAMABAD: The Elec­tion Commission of Pakistan declared on Thursday that it was within its jurisdiction to initiate contempt of court proceedings and issued a formal show cause notice to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, asking him to submit a reply by Aug 23.

In its short order, a full bench of the ECP headed by Chief Election Commissio­ner (CEC) retired Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza rejected Imran Khan’s objections to the commission’s jurisdiction to initiate contempt of court proceedings and ruled that the it had the legal right to hear the contempt case.

The ECP bench had reserved the judgement on the maintainability of the contempt petition, filed by PTI dissident and one of the founding members Akbar Babar, after hearing arguments from the counsel for both sides for nearly two hours on July 25.

Soon after the announcement of the verdict by the CEC, PTI’s counsel Shahid Gondal told reporters that they would challenge the decision in the Islamabad High Court because they still believed that the ECP had no jurisdiction to hear contempt cases.

Imran Khan had submitted the objections on July 10 through his counsel and former senator Babar Awan who had argued before the ECP that only the Supreme Court and high courts had the powers to take up contempt petitions where the parties had the opportunity to file appeals before larger benches. On the other hand, he said, the parties in the ECP would have no forum to file an appeal as its full bench was hearing the case.

Moreover, accusing a judge or a court of bias did not necessarily constituted contempt, he had contended and said that alleging bias was the inherent right of the defendant and it could not be labeled as ‘contempt’.

On the other hand, the petitioner’s counsel Syed Ahmed Hasan had cited a number of relevant constitutional provisions as well as laws to prove that the ECP had the powers to hear contempt cases.

Talking to reporters, Akbar Babar praised the ECP for exercising its constitutional right of bringing the powerful under the law. He alleged that Imran Khan considered himself above the law by refusing to comply with at least 21 ECP orders during the course of the foreign funding case filed in November 2014.

The PTI chief could run but he not hide from the “long arm of justice”, he said.

“By refusing to comply with repeated ECP orders and instead casting aspersions on the commission, Imran Khan is only telling the world that he is above the law. This is unacceptable for someone who claims to be the advocate for the rights of the poor and the underprivileged,” said Mr Babar, who was once a close confidant of the PTI chief.

He said it was now time for Imran Khan’s accountability, adding that he had already written a letter to Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal to authorise the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to probe PTI accounts on media reports that Shaukat Khanum Hospital’s donors list was allegedly being used by the PTI to produce fake donors from the United States in an attempt to conceal illegal foreign funding.

The ECP had issued the contempt notice to Imran Khan on Jan 24 for his “scandalous remarks” about the commission.

The petitioner, who had also filed the foreign funding case against the PTI leadership, had informed the ECP that Mr Khan had accused the ECP of being biased in the funding case following which his counsel had tendered an apology with the commission. According to him, the PTI chairman had in a TV interview said his counsel had tendered the apology in his personal capacity and that he had not apologised.

Mr Khan had made the allegedly contemptuous statement after the ECP ordered the PTI in December last year to produce financial accounts for scrutiny.

On the other hand, PTI’s counsel Shahid Gondal alleged that his client was being victimised for raising voice against the corrupt and challenging the powerful Nawaz Sharif.

Meanwhile, the ECP rejected a similar petition filed against PML-N leader Daniyal Aziz by an individual and PTI supporter Mehmood Joya for not pursuing the matter. At the last hearing, his lawyer had withdrawn his Wakalatnama (power of attorney).

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2017