ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Thursday set aside the 30-day deadline stipulated by a single-member bench to conclude the much-delayed prohibited funding case against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

An IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Babar Sattar issued a detailed judgement on an appeal against the order of the single bench that direc­ted the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conclude the prohibited funding case in 30 days.

The IHC division bench had on April 25 issued an interim order suspending the single bench’s directive for the ECP to decide the pending complaint in the prohibited funding case within a “period of 30 days by all means”.

PTI secretary general Asad Umar had filed the appeal against the order of the single bench that also allowed Akbar S. Babar, the complainant and founding member of the PTI, to participate in the proceedings of the prohibited funding case.

The PTI, in its appeal, sought a court directive that the sources of foreign funding be kept confidential. It also expressed reservations over the remarks of the single bench judge, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, that “if any of the party funding has been received through prohibited sources, it will affect the status of such political party, including its chairman. Therefore, it is necessary to dig out the truth.”

According to the appeal, these observations were not warranted as the “judge was not mandated to use such harsh language to the utter disadvantage of the appellant”.

It stated that the commission was conducting scrutiny of only one party and that too on a day-to-day basis. The appeal termed this a discrimination as there was no accountability of other political parties.

During the hearing on Thursday, an ECP representative informed the IHC division bench that the cases of all political parties are being dealt with in a fair and transparent manner.

The court observed that there is nothing on record to indicate that the PTI has been treated differently. It would not be appropriate for this court to give a directive to the commission on the basis of unproven apprehensions, the bench said.

The court observed: “At this stage, neither an adverse order has been passed by the Election Commission nor it is likely to be passed in derogation of the procedure; we have not been able to persuade ourselves that the appellant has been prejudiced in any manner.”

The court said it expected that the ECP would complete the pending cases against different political parties within a reasonable time period and in a fair and just manner.

The prohibited funding case has been pending before the ECP since Nov 14, 2014. Akbar Babar, the petitioner, alleged that there were financial irregularities in PTI’s funding within Pakistan and abroad.

Published in Dawn,June 17th, 2022