PTI insists ECP fails to prove foreign funding against party

ISLAMABAD: After a damning verdict by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), PTI leader Farrukh Habib said that foreign funding was not proved against the party.

The verdict disappointed those who were pushing the narrative of foreign funding against the PTI, said Farrukh Habib. He maintained that they were of the view that it was a case of prohibited funding but not of foreign funding.

Raising questions over the ECP, the PTI leader said that the IHC had ordered to probe the accounts of all the political parties without any discrimination.

He said that the scrutiny committee tasked to probe the accounts of PTI completed its work on time but the committees established to check the accounts of PPP and PML were yet to submit their report.

‘Overseas Pakistanis raised funds for PTI’

Fawad Chaudhry said overseas Pakistanis raised funds for the PTI, adding that the ECP had acknowledged their narrative that it does not come under “foreign funding”.

In the next phase, the PTI will prove that the 16 accounts are legal, adding that these accounts are “subsidiary accounts,” said Fawad Chaudhry.

“No party has the right to hide its funding from the people,” the PTI leader.

He demanded of the election body to announce its verdict in the funding case against PPP and PML-N after the PTI.

“I am unable to understand why PML-N and JUI-F have considered overseas Pakistanis as their enemies,” he added.

Oversees Pakistanis are the backbone of the country, the PTI leader said, adding that they will continue relying on the expats for funding.

“Today's decision is not correct,” Fawad added.

‘Nation seeks reply’

Taking to his Twitter handle, PTI leader Asad Umar said that ECP has fulfilled his wish by announcing the verdict in the party’s funding case.

“The nation seeks reply why funding reports of PPP and PML-N are not being released?” asked the PTI leader.

Raising questions on ECP, Asad Umar said that the election body was sheltering PDM parties by violating the directions of the SC and the high court.

CEC should resign voluntarily: Sheikh Rasheed

Speaking to Geo News, Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed said that today's decision would not lead to a crisis that would not be manageable.

"The law should be the same for all parties," the former interior minister, a staunch ally of Khan, said while terming the Constitution of Pakistan "a nose of wax".

The AML chief, stressing that no major political turn will occur as a result of the order, said that no matter what the government tries to do, it will not be able to harm the PTI chairman.

Turning his guns on the government's major players, Rasheed said he was "ready to say this on oath" that parties received funding from slain terrorist "Osama Bin Laden".

He then sought Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja's voluntary resignation — a demand that the PTI and its allies have been making for months now.