Justice delayed

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Thursday said the foreign funding case was an example of how ‘ladla’ – a term associated with the PTI chief Imran Khan – was being protected. In a tweet on Thursday, the PML-N president highlighted how deposed PM Nawaz Sharif was convicted for not receiving salary, but Imran has remained untouchable since the past eight years. Shehbaz maintained that the PTI chairman filed nine writ petitions in the Islamabad High Court and got 50 adjournments in the foreign funding case. Earlier, on July 19, PM Shehbaz had urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce the long-delayed judgment on PTI’s foreign funding case. “For long has Imran Niazi been given a free pass despite his repeated & shameless attacks on state institutions? Impunity given to him has hurt the country.” Shehbaz said that all state organs should act within the domains stipulated by the Constitution for the smooth and effective working of the democratic system. The premier stated that the country would be moving in a circle and “getting nowhere” without understanding that state organs should act within their stipulated domains. Other coalition government leaders have also been constantly urging the ECP and Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja to release the foreign funding case verdict. 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”. Later, 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. 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. The ruling 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. Meanwhile, Adviser to Prime Minister on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Qamar Zaman Kaira on Thursday said that the coalition parties of the government were demanding that the pending decision on the foreign funding case be announced soon. He expressed these views while addressing a news conference along with Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik in Islamabad. Kaira said that Imran Khan was criticizing the Chief Election Commissioner in order to pressurize the Election Commission of Pakistan. He asked if Imran Khan was ‘sadiq and amin’ and his hands were clean, then why he was using delaying tactics on foreign funding case. The whole nation was waiting for the foreign funding verdict and it was also the demand of the coalition government as the decision had been preserved for eight years which should be announced, he added. He said if the decision was delayed, certainly questions would arise. Adviser to the prime minister said that they had requested to constitute a full court on the issue of interpretation of the Constitution but there was no positive response. Kaira said that the impacts of the changes in Punjab would be seen in the next few days.