PTI tenders apology after ECP warning

Party spokesman says the apology was submitted by counsel, not Imran

ISLAMABAD: After PTI chief Imran Khan’s reply  accusing the Election Commission of Pakistan of bias irked the poll supervisory body, PTI’s counsel on Monday withdrew the reply while tendering an conditional apology.

The ECP on Monday resumed hearing of a case filed by a former PTI leader Akbar S Babar, who had accused that massive irregularities were committed in party’s accounts. The case has been lingering on since November 2014.



In its reply submitted after many admonishments, the PTI chief had called it bias on part of the ECP to take up the party case. The PTI reply said the party had already secured stay order from Islamabad High Court on this issue and hence the case might be adjourned indefinitely.

However, the PTI reply invited ire of the ECP officials, who issued a warning to the party, whose non cooperative attitude, it said, was the cause of delay in the case.



“You are doing politics with us. This case has been pending before us for the past two years,” the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (redt) Sardar Raza Khan told the PTI’s counsel. “Are you playing games with us? We have nothing to do with politics,” CEC said.

Realising mood of the bench, the PTI counsel Saqlain Haider tendered an apology and requested the ECP to let him withdraw the reply.  Before the bench adjourned, the PTI lawyer — after seeking instructions from his client – submitted a handwritten unconditional apology and a request for withdrawal of the review application.

The ECP also questioned presence of another lawyer, representing the PTI without completing the legal formalities. The PTI is now engaging Faisal Chaudhry as their counsel in this case. The ECP asked Chaudhry to submit his ‘Vakalatnama’ before starting his arguments.

Chaudhry sought time from the commission to argue the case on behalf of his client. This is the third time that PTI has been represented by a new lawyer in the case. The commission later fixed the case for January 24 for next hearing.

Earlier, the petitioner’s counsel Syed Ahmed Hasan argued that the application filed by the PTI with the signatures of Imran Khan was highly contemptuous and showed utter disregard for a constitutional body performing its lawful functions. “The PTI must provide the financial documents otherwise the ECP should invoke its powers to seek the information directly from financial institutions,” he said.

Talking to the media outside the ECP, the petitioner — Akbar S Babar who was earlier the PTI’s central vice president — said the PTI’s refusal to submit documents is a vindication of all his allegations of corruption, money laundering, and illegal funding.

“Otherwise what stops the PTI and Imran Khan to comply with the ECP orders,” he said.



To a question as to whether he was prepared to withdraw the case now that Imran Khan had filed an unconditional apology before the ECP, Babar said Imran Khan needed to apologise to the people of Pakistan, particularly the youth, for misleading them.

The PTI’s rebuttal

Later in a statement issued by the PTI’s spokesperson, the party said the impression that the PTI chief had tendered an apology to the ECP was totally wrong. “Any such apology is out of question,” the statements said, adding that the statement was submitted by the PTI counsel in his personal capacity.

“The ECP should revisit its attitude seriously. It is a better strategy to enhance the image of the institution by changing its conduct rather than issuing threats,” it said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2017.