ISLAMABAD: A larger bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) will hear the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) plea today against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) verdict in the prohibited funding case, ARY News reported on Thursday.
According to details, the larger bench – which will be headed by IHC Acting Chief Justice Aamir Farooq – includes Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Babar Sattar.
The larger bench will hear the PTI’s petition against the ECP verdict at 2 pm.
In the last hearing, the Islamabad High Court had decided to form a larger bench to hear the PTI’s plea against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) judgement in the prohibited funding case.
PTI’s lawyer Anwar Mansoor argued that the accounts’ information, which were provided, was not included in the electoral watchdog’s verdict. “We had told ECP that some accounts’ information was not necessary due to some reasons,” he added.
“A larger bench will take up the matter,” Justice Farooq remarked. Subsequently, the court fixed the matter before a larger bench and adjourned the hearing for August 18.
Read More: ECP SAYS PTI RECEIVED PROHIBITED FUNDS, ISSUES SHOW-CAUSE
ECP verdict
The ECP bench in its reserved verdict said prohibited funding against PTI had been proven.
ECP, in its unanimous verdict, ruled that the party received funds from business tycoon Arif Naqvi and from 34 foreign nationals.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja, comprising Nisar Ahmed Durrani and Shah Muhammad Jatoi announced the reserved verdict.
ISLAMABAD: The coalition government Thursday reiterated its demand, urging the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to issue the verdict on PTI's "foreign funding" case — which has been pending since 2014.
PTI's founding member Akbar S Babar had filed the case in 2014, alleging that the party received foreign funding and the ECP, on June 21, reserved the verdict in the case.
Taking to his Twitter handle, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the foreign funding case is an example of "how ladla (blue-eyed boy) was being protected".
The premier wrote: “[Nawaz Sharif] was convicted for not taking a salary, 'Ladla' is untouchable. Eight years on, the decision is still elusive.”
He further mentioned that in order to stop the foreign funding case, Khan filed nine writ petitions in the Islamabad High Court and got 50 adjournments.
Meanwhile, while addressing a press conference in the federal capital flanked by State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik, Adviser to Prime Minister on Kashmir Affairs Qamar Zaman Kaira also questioned the delay in the announcement of the verdict.
“We don’t want to head towards a clash between institutions; however, people are waiting for the verdict which has been reserved,” he said, emphasising that the decision should be announced as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Malik said: “We are used to accepting decisions but, at least, bring the decision to the fore so that we can know what was the outcome of the case.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah also took to his Twitter to urge ECP to “immediately” announce the verdict of the foreign funding case.
“PTI Lawyers resorted to delaying tactics for eight years by filing nine writ petitions during the proceedings but now the decision is already reserved,” he wrote, adding that a further delay is “incomprehensible”.
The PTI hid funds worth millions of rupees from the ECP, the report of an ECP scrutiny committee probing the party's funds revealed on January 4.
The report stated that the PTI provided "false information" regarding the party's funding to the ECP. It said that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP's) bank statement revealed that the party had received Rs1.64 billion in funding.
According to the report, the party did not disclose funding worth more than Rs310 million to the ECP.
The scrutiny committee was formed in 2019 to audit foreign funding received by the PTI.
Following the verdict of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to instate PTI's candidate Pervez Elahi as the chief minister of Punjab, the party's senior vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that "today, the Constitution's rule has been accepted and the Pakistani people's mandate has been respected".
"On July 17, the people of Pakistan accepted Imran Khan's narrative wholeheartedly and we reject this imported government," the ex-foreign minister said in a press conference.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court today declared Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari's ruling in the Punjab Chief Minister election "illegal" and ruled that Pervez Elahi will be the new CM of the province.
The Supreme Court's short order declared Pervez Elahi as the duly elected chief minister of Punjab as it ruled that he had obtained 186 votes compared to Hamza's 179.
The order also declared that the oath of office administered to Hamza was "without lawful authority and of no legal effect".
Berating the deputy speaker's ruling, Qureshi said Mazari "trampled the Constitution and did not follow the principles", adding that he did not care about the law.
He said that the judiciary tolerated the criticism with patience and fulfilled its responsibility. "The coalition government tried to employ delaying tactics to intimidate the judiciary."
Qureshi said that the decision has proved that Pakistan's judiciary is independent.
Former minister for planning and development Asad Umar said that Pakistan's politics has taken a new direction.
"There was a foreign conspiracy, however, Imran Khan did not bow before anyone or tolerate anyone's dictation," he said.
PTI's Senator Faisal Javed termed the decision as Imran Khan's victory and said that the decision was according to the law and Constitution, adding that the party wants the general elections to be announced immediately.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's White House chief strategist Steve Bannon arrives following his trial on contempt of Congress charges for his refusal to cooperate with the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, at U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S., July 22, 2022.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
A federal court jury reached a verdict Friday in the trial of Steve Bannon, the former top Trump White House aide who is charged with criminal contempt of Congress.
The verdict is expected to be announced shortly in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Bannon is accused of willfully failing to comply with subpoenas issued by the House select committee that is investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump.
He faces a minimum criminal sentence of 30 days in jail if convicted of two counts of contempt.
Prosecutor Molly Gaston told jurors in her closing arguments that Bannon "chose allegiance to Donald Trump over compliance with the law."
"When it really comes down to it, he did not want to recognize Congress' authority or play by the government's rules," Gaston said. "Our government only works if people show up. It only works if people play by the rules. And it only works if people are held accountable when they do not."
Bannon's lawyers did not present a defense during the trial, which began Monday with jury selection.
His attorneys were hamstrung by pretrial rulings by the judge in the case, who severely limited the evidence they could present at trial.
During his own closing arguments Friday, Bannon's lawyer Evan Corcoran tried to suggest that Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who is chair of the Jan. 6 committee, did not sign a subpoena for Bannon, NBC reported. Corcoran dropped that line of argument after the prosecution objected.
Corcoran also asked jurors to set aside memories of Jan. 6 in their deliberations.
"None of us will soon forget January 6, 2021," Corcoran said. "It's part of our collective memory. But there's no evidence in this case that Steve Bannon was involved at all. For purposes of this case we have to put out of our thoughts January 6."
Jurors began their deliberations at just before 11:40 a.m. ET, after the closing arguments concluded.
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