The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday served notices to respondents including Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf seeking to barred ECP from sharing certain documents with Akbar S. Babar in foreign funding case.
Justice Mohsin Akhter Kayani of IHC heard the case filed by ruling party PTI through its lawyer Anwar Mansoor Khan.
The petition adopted the stance that the record which the ECP had collected itself from State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and other sources shouldn’t be shared with the complainant Akbar S. Babar. The complainant should be allowed to give arguments only related to his documents.
Justice Kayani remarked that how the court could instruct anyone to give short arguments before the ECP.
The court asked the lawyer that under what law the access of the complainant to the said documents could be denied.
The lawyer said that the ECP had set up a scrutiny committee and also prepared its TORs. The committee itself collected record from SBP and it had no connection with Akbar S. Babar.
Addressing the lawyer, the judge said don’t worry, the ECP committee had not given much weightage to the complainant and had prepared the report itself. The court said that there were no restrictions on ECP and it could take information from any institution.
Anwar Mansoor also gave the reference of the top court’s instructions and argued that the ECP couldn’t exceed from its powers. Akbar S. Babar had zero information about the record collected by the ECP, he added.
The court said it would take the decision into the matter after listening the stance of respondents. The further hearing of the case then adjourned till April 1.
