PTI to protest outside ECP offices across country against CEC's 'attitude'

• Fawad says decision taken after PTI’s political committee met today and reviewed “matters related” to ECP.
• PTI alleges CEC’s Sikander Sultan Raja had gone to “extremes of impartiality and dishonesty”.
• Fawad says all district offices of PTI have been issued instructions for the protest.

PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry announced on Sunday that the party will protest outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) offices across the country against the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja’s “attitude”.

Taking to Twitter, Fawad said that the PTI’s political committee met today and reviewed “matters related” to the ECP.

Fawad alleged that CEC’s Raja had gone to “extremes of impartiality and dishonesty” and also claimed that “under a plan” the ECP was not issuing the notification to unseat the dissident MNAs of the party.

“Therefore, the PTI will protest outside the ECP’s office across the country on April 26, Tuesday, against the election commissioner’s attitude,” said Fawad. 

He added that all district offices of the PTI have been issued instructions regarding the protest.

The PTI has been accusing the ECP of acting impartially ever since the Islamabad High Court ordered the electoral body to wrap up the PTI's foreign funding case within 30 days. 

The orders were issued on April 14 by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani on applications filed by the PTI, asking for Akbar S Babar’s separation from the case, the dismissal of the case, and keeping the PTI documents secret.

The PTI had challenged the ECP’s applications seeking the exclusion of Babar, the petitioner, from the foreign funding case. It had also demanded that all records of the case, including the documents requisitioned through the State Bank of Pakistan, should not be shared with Babar, who had filed the case in November 2014.

However, the IHC ruled that the ECP’s role “is of important nature and same cannot be curtailed in any manner”. It noted that the body is a “supervisory, regulatory and administrative body under the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973, to deal with the affairs of political parties, election, and its results”.

It also noted that “no restriction could be imposed upon ECP to adopt any process of inquiry, investigation, scrutiny to reach out the mandate of assigned duty in terms of Article 17(3)”.

“If any of the party funding has been received through prohibited sources, it will affect the status of such political party, including its chairman, therefore, it is necessary to dig out the truth, even petitioner being a political party is also under an obligation to maintain its dignity and integrity, which has a far-reaching effect in Pakistani society and if any foreign funding has been received contrary to law and mandate of the Constitution, the petitioner has to face the music,” said the judgment.