IHC issues notices on PTI's petition against FIA action

Order comes after FIA summoned secretariat employees in connection with prohibited funding case

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday served notices to respondents in a petition filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for taking action days after the electoral watchdog confirmed the “prohibited” funding case.

Earlier this week, the Election Commission of Pakistan ruled that the PTI did indeed receive prohibited funding and issued a notice to the party asking why the funds should not be confiscated.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, announced the verdict in a case filed by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar which had been pending since November 14, 2014.

The verdict, which was reserved on June 21 and scheduled to be announced at 10am, was half-an-hour late last week on Tuesday.

The verdict stated that the part received funds from 34 foreign nationals and 351 foreign-based companies. It also stated that the PTI took ownership of eight accounts, kept 13 hidden and failed to mention three.

Acting Chief Justice Aamer Farooq on Friday heard the case filed by the PTI Central Secretariat employees, including Muhammad Arshad, Muhammad Rafiq and Tahir Iqbal.

Petitioner's lawyer Shah Khawar adopted the stance that the FIA had served notices to the PTI Secretariat employees, adding that the actions were based on dishonesty.

He said that the staff were also summoned by the FIA through phone calls. “The purpose of this action is just to harass the PTI employees,” he claimed.

The lawyer said that the PTI employees were unaware of any sort of inquiry initiated by the FIA.

He prayed the court to terminate the notices of FIA and declare it as illegal.

According to the petition, the interior minister announced the registration of cases against the PTI employees at a news conference, after which the FIA issued notices to the PTI employees at midnight.

It is alleged in the petition that the FIA inspector's malice is evident from the notices issued to the PTI employees. The FIA inspector sent the notices to the employees on WhatsApp at 9:58am on Friday.

The petitioners said the FIA inspector called the employees at 10pm to come to the office in the morning, with the aim of framing them in false cases, harassing them and arresting them illegally.

The court issued a notice to suspend the FIR notice and sought comments till August 10. The court also summoned the FIA officials in person on the next hearing. (With input from APP)