ISLAMABAD: Reacting to Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah’s latest statement in which he had said that the government could declare the PTI a foreign-funded party, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said that "it is not up to you" to ban Imran Khan or the party.
Earlier today, Sanaullah said that the government can submit a declaration to the Supreme Court on the basis of verified evidence that PTI is a foreign-aided party and if the apex court upholds this declaration, "the party will stand dissolved".
Fawad said that a reference has been filed against Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and that the party will appeal against the Election Commission of Pakistan's decision, which he declared was "in contravention to the law and the Constitution."
A day earlier, the ECP in a unanimous verdict, ruled that the PTI received funds from "prohibited" sources. The PTI leader also announced a protest outside the ECP office.
He alleged that member parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement alliance had "met the chief election commissioner" before the verdict was announced.
Speaking to Geo News, Sanaullah said that PTI would be "dissolved" if the top court upholds the declaration of the government.
“ECP has made a 100% correct decision,” the interior minister said, adding that the judgment "proved PTI is a foreign-funded party".
He accused the party of hiding its accounts and tampering with its financial record.
The PML-N leader, citing the ECP verdict, said the PTI accepted funds from 34 foreigners and 351 companies in violation of the Political Party Act and the Election Act.
ECP’s ruling "proved Khan is a liar and forger”, the interior minister said, adding that the ruling alliance has devised a future plan after the verdict.
He maintained that they would "show the real face of Imran Khan" to the people.
In its verdict, the ECP said that the party, in violation of the Constitution, had received funds from 34 foreigners. The party received funds from US, Australia and UAE.
The party accepted funds from a US business personality, it said, and added, “13 unidentified accounts also surfaced during the probe in the PTI funding case.”
The ECP said that the PTI had submitted a false affidavit about the party’s accounts. PTI Chairman Imran Khan had submitted a false F1 form to the ECP, it added.
After a damning verdict by the 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 Habib, adding that the party was of the view that it was a case of prohibited funding, not foreign funding.
Raising questions over the ECP, the PTI leader said that the Islamabad High Court had ordered a probe into 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.
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