Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Tuesday rejected the ECP ruling that PTI received prohibited funding, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Speaking to the media after the verdict was announced, Fawad said that most of the money was from overseas Pakistanis. “I don’t understand why PML-N, JUI and PPP have declared overseas Pakistanis as the enemies. We consider overseas Pakistanis to be the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and we will continue to rely on them for our funding,” he said.
Commenting on the case, the PTI leader said that this was never a case of “foreign funding” and this had been proven with the ECP’s decision. He went on to say that the accounts that were supposedly undeclared were not directly linked with the PTI chief.
In the next phase, the PTI will prove that the 16 accounts are legal, adding that these accounts are “subsidiary accounts,” Chaudhry said.
The former minister said that the people deserved to know where political parties received their funding from. “No party, including the PTI, has the right to hide its funding from the people,” he maintained.
“You decided the PTI’s case and now we expect that you will bring to light other parties’ funding so that the people know that the law is being followed,” he said.
Fawad demanded of the election body to announce its verdict in the funding case against PPP and PML-N after the PTI.
In a tweet later, the PTI leader said that since the Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and ECP members have “weak” legal backgrounds, they failed to “differentiate between an affidavit and certificate”.
“Imran Khan submitted certificate on audited accounts, this is not a case of Mis-declaration,” the former information and law minister said.
Speaking during the press conference before Chaudhry, PTI Central Deputy Secretary Information 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.
He said that the PTI was of the view from day one that the case was related to prohibited funding and not foreign funding.
PTI leader and former federal minister Asad Umar has accused the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of shelter the PDM parties by not releasing the funding reports of PML-N and PPP.
In a tweet posted after ECP announced a decision in PTI prohibited funding case on Tuesday, Asad Umar said “The Election Commission fulfilled its wish by announcing the verdict in the prohibited funding case. Now the nation demands an answer, why is the funding report of the Muslim League-Nawaz and the People's Party not being released? The Election Commission is giving shelter to the PDM parties by violating the directives of the Supreme Court and the High Court.”
Another PTI leader Shahbaz Gill has termed the ECP verdict “Much ado about mothing”.
In a tweet posted on Sunday, Shahbaz Gills said “Yes, this cat also came out of the bag. ECP said it is not foreign funding but prohibited funding. Much ado about nothing. This conspiracy failed. Now plot something new.”