ECP grants PTI more time in party polls case

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Thursday once again granted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan additional time to submit documents related to the party’s intra-party elections.

The commission’s two-member bench resumed the hearing, where the PTI was expected to present the necessary documents. However, Barrister Gohar explained that he had traveled to his village and did not have the file with him, requesting a short extension.

One bench member inquired if he needed more time to prepare the case, to which Barrister Gohar confirmed, requesting a brief extension. Consequently, the commission accepted his request and adjourned the hearing until December 4.

Later, speaking to reporters outside the commission, Barrister Gohar referenced the PTI founder’s final call for a protest on November 24, saying, “Protests will be witnessed worldwide on the founder’s call.” He said, “Everyone will participate in the protest; this is the founder’s directive, not a suggestion.”

Addressing the recent brief detention of PTI leaders by police at Adiala Jail, where they had gone to meet the party leader, he said that such incidents have occurred before, adding, “We condemned this incident. A court order was in place for a meeting with the chairman, and such incidents should not happen.”

He lamented that court orders are often disregarded, forcing the party to seek recourse repeatedly. He questioned, “If the court does not grant relief, what options remain?”

Separately, PTI founding member and former information secretary Akbar S. Babar also spoke to the media and said that the PTI’s recent protest call would likely be another “missed call” and claimed the party had been hijacked by individuals from other political groups.

“Unless political parties are freed from familial and individual control, democracy cannot thrive,” he asserted.

Babar said that for stability, there must be a thorough elimination of anarchy, lamenting how, historically, anarchists were supported for political expediency.

He said that he had filed the PTI foreign funding case exactly 10 years ago, on November 14, 2014.

“I was the first to recognise this chaotic phenomenon and challenge it. Time has shown the devastating impact, but the damage could have been prevented,” he remarked.

Flanked by other long-standing party members who had challenged PTI’s intra-party polls in March this year, Babar said, “People ask what I achieved. I tell them that standing against wrongdoing is its reward.” He claimed that the ECP’s ruling had confirmed major financial irregularities, including funds from foreign individuals and firms received by PTI finance board members.

However, Babar expressed regret, saying that successive governments and the state had failed to take action; otherwise, the outcome of the foreign funding case would be different today.

He highlighted that the foreign funding case was proven two years ago (with the ECP’s judgment in August 2022), yet it remains unenforced. He called this a failure on the part of the state, governments, and judiciary. “Despite serious financial crimes being proven, no one has been held accountable. In the UK, courts uphold the law; in Pakistan, it’s quite the opposite,” he alleged.

Babar criticized the display of American flags at PTI rallies and condemned the party’s reluctance to support Gaza’s martyrs for fear of losing foreign backing, calling it shameful.