ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court, issuing an order on Monday regarding the withdrawal of appeals against the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) sit-in at Faizabad in 2017, stated that it expects the government to finalise the fact-finding probe on the sit-in within the specified time frame.

The apex court, in its judgement of Feb 6, 2019, highlighted that under Section 211 of the Elections Act 2017 and Rules 161(2) of the Election Rule 2017, political parties were required to furnish the commission with the list of contributors who donated or contributed an amount equal to or more than Rs100,000 to the political party for its election campaign expenses.

The judgement had regretted that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) confided that the TLP did not account for its funds and election expenses but surprisingly professed its helplessness because, according to the commission, the law was “cosmetic.”

The court order reproduced the contention of the attorney general (AG), who stated that the federal government had filed a civil review petition on behalf of the ministry of defence and another on behalf of the Intelligence Bureau, both of which the federal government wants to withdraw.

Issues orders on withdrawal of appeals; emphasises election law compliance

The review petitions were filed and have been kept pending for over four years and eight months. One does not expect the federal government to file frivolous applications and abuse the process of the court, the court observed.

The AG further stated that federal government has constituted a three-member committee comprising the additional secretary, ministry of defence, additional secretary, ministry of interior and director, Inter-Services Intelligence, to conduct an inquiry regarding the matters mentioned in the judgement.

The court was told that a special fact-finding committee has been constituted to ensure compliance of directions.

The committee has been tasked with conducting an inquiry and fixing responsibility of the TLP’s Faizabad sit-in.

The committee held its first meeting on Oct 26, and it is expected to submit a fact-finding report to the ministry of defence by Dec 1.

Another application of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) filed on March 11, 2019 in which the PTI had sought to be arrayed as a party.

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On the last date of hearing, Syed Ali Zafar, representing PTI, had stated that, his party “does not want to press its application to become a party, as upon reflection, PTI has realised that judgement dated 06 February 2019 is in accordance with the law”.

Another application of Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, filed on March 7, 2019, to become a party in the matter, was also taken up by the apex court.

His counsel has since been appoi­nted as a minister in the Balochistan government; therefore, on the last date of the hearing, the court asked him to engage another counsel or argue the application himself.

The court was told that the MQM-P is also not interested in pursuing the appeal.

An application filed by the ECP, comprising 59 pages, purports to show that the ECP had implemented the judgement and attaches a report of a ‘scrutiny committee,’ with the director general of law as its chairman, the director general of political finance, and the deputy controller general of accounts as its members.

The report of the scrutiny committee noted that the requisite information had not provided by TLP, and discrepancies, deficiencies, and abnormalities were observed in the affairs of TLP. TLP was called upon to provide, among other things, details of its bank accounts.

The report also noted that TLP had not disclosed the source of funds amounting to Rs15,86,324; however, TLP had stated that it did not want to disclose.

Despite its own said findings, the scrutiny committee concluded that no irregularity or abnormality was found. The report was submitted to the ECP, which, without considering these said findings, simply followed the recommendations of the scrutiny committee, and did so without its own independent application of mind.

The ECP also went on to categorised the said unaccounted-for amount, constituting about 30 per cent of the TLP’s total funding, as peanuts.

The ECP counsel stated that the commission might be given another opportunity to address the matter in accordance with the Election Act, 2017, and the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, seeking one month’s time to do the needful.

The court allowed the request, and further hearing in this matter has been adjourned till Nov 15.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2023