Islamabad (LTN NEWS): Azam Nazeer Tarar, the Federal Minister for Law and Justice, said on Tuesday that the government could tell PTI that it gets money from outside the country and could also send a reference to the Supreme Court.
At a press conference with Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, the law minister said that the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, the Ministry of Law and Justice, and the Ministry of Interior would look at every word of the Election Commission’s decision in detail, and the law would take its course.
He said that Hanif Abbasi, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, had filed a petition with the Supreme Court about Imran Khan using illegal funds to cause chaos and disorder in the country. The Supreme Court said that the Election Commission of Pakistan would look into the matter.
He said that the Supreme Court had also said that the federal government would decide to ban the party based on ECP’s report about foreign funding.
He said that the Election Commission listened to the case of illegal funding with a lot of patience and restraint because the timing was set by PTI and they were given the report of the Scrutiny Committee. He also said that the Election Commission had made a detailed decision based on reports from different national institutions, such as the State Bank of Pakistan.
The Minister said that every political party had to tell the Election Commission about its expenses, income, and sources of income. However, the PTI had cut itself off from the accounts that its top leaders were using. He also said that the PTI chief’s money trail went against his story.
He said that he and the Minister of the Interior had talked at length about the Election Commission’s decision. Under the law, political parties were allowed to do things, and it was very clear how they could get money, he said.
He said that this law had been interpreted by the courts many times to mean that no one could be stopped from taking part in political activities. However, political parties would have to follow the law and also have to say where their money comes from and where it goes.
The Law Minister said that all political parties had to tell the ECP at the end of every year how much money they made and how much money they spent. He said that the country had been waiting for 8 years to find out what would happen in the prohibited funding case.
He said that the PTI had replaced nine lawyers, made accusations against the ECP, and then asked for an apology in writing. The provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also passed resolutions against the head of the Election Commission of Pakistan to stop the decision in some way.
He said that the Chief Election Commissioner and other members of the Election Commission had given the public a detailed report with three parts. In one of those parts, the illegal funding was explained in detail.
He said that information had also been given about how to get money from foreigners who did not have dual citizenship. Imran Khan’s declarations to ECP as party chief were found to be false for five years in a row, from 2008 to 2013. PTI also tried to hide its accounts, which was not only illegal but also unethical, he said.
The Minister said that a person whose whole political platform was based on thieves, dacoits, money trails, and plots had been told by Pakistan’s constitutional body that Imran Khan’s receipts and money trails were against the country’s constitution and laws.
He also said that Imran Khan had no reason to be in politics because Pakistan’s constitution and laws would not let him.
He said that details about elections and political parties in the country were written in the Political Party Ordinance of 2002 and that the Constitution of 1973 also said clear things about this. In the same way, the details had been added to the 2017 Election Act.
He said that the government didn’t make this law, but that all political parties, including PTI, were on the committee that made it. Even Sheikh Rasheed, who was the only member of the assembly from his party, was on the committee that made this law
He said that the people who made these kinds of laws should apologize to the country or go to jail.
he said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan should immediately step down as party leader and apologize to the country after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decision in the foreign funding case.
At a press conference here today, he and Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazir Tarar said that Imran Khan was found to be a thief by a constitutional body.
He (Imran) ran a political party with money from donations and from other countries, he said.
The minister said that the PTI leader was trying to mislead the country in order to bring about chaos and anarchy.
He also said that the ECP’s decision proved that Imran Khan was a proven liar.
He said that PTI hid facts about the foreign funding case on purpose and that all of these details were written down in the decision.
He also said that the laws of the country did not allow any political party to get money from foreigners or foreign companies.
The minister thanked the three members of the ECP bench, led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Skandar Sultan, for making a decision that will go down in history.
Even though the head of the PTI kept making false accusations, the ECP was brave and patient and decided the case based on the facts, he said.
He said that “Fitna Khan” said hurtful things about the ECP and CEC, but that the case was decided according to the constitution.
He also said that the whole country praised the ECP for its historic decision.
The minister said that the decision showed that Imran Khan was not honest and that he only used the money that was given to him in the name of charity for political purposes.
Referring to the Election Acts of 2002 and 2017, he said it was against the law to get money from foreigners or foreign funding.
From the decision, it was clear that PTI got money from 34 foreigners and 351 foreign companies, he said.
Rana Sanaullah said that, for the past eight years, the PTI did everything it could to put off the case.
But the ECP investigation found all the facts and put them in front of the country, he said.
He said that the government was happy with the decision and that the ECP decision would be put into place.
