Claim of foreign funding against PTI did not hold water & all funds were legal: Qureshi.

ISLAMABAD -- As the election watchdog steps up the proceedings of the foreign funding case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to summon other political parties in their respective cases as well.

Speaking to media outside the ECP office in Islamabad, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said they were not fretting but other parties should also be summoned to face relevant cases. He added the claim of foreign funding against the PTI did not hold water and all funds were legal. He further said the scrutiny committee in charge of the case against the party extended its mandate. 'Our record is clean,' he said, adding that overseas Pakistanis also supported the PTI.

Meanwhile as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday resumed hearing the foreign funding case against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the party's counsel claimed that dual nationals were permitted under the law to fund political parties.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Dr. Sikandar Sultan Raja conducted the hearing.

During the hearing, PTI's counsel Anwar Mansoor Khan raised an objection against the ECP, saying it was not fully functional as it was operating without two of its members, who retired in 2019.

He also cited Article 218 of the Constitution, which stipulates the formation of a "permanent election commission consisting of a chairman and four members, one from each province".

He contended that the ECP was not entitled to issue orders on [any matter] until it was fully functional. He made this observation in reference to April 12 announcement by the ECP regarding the delimitation schedule for the National AssemAbly and provincial assemblies for the next general elections.

The PTI counsel said the documents provided by the ECP's scrutiny committee to...