Govt, opposition trade barbs as ECP hears funding case tomorrow.

ISLAMABAD -- With the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) set to resume the hearing of foreign funding case against the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday, political temperatures have started flaring up as the exchange of hot words between the government and opposition intensifies.

Ever since the opposition's Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) announced that it will stage a demonstration outside the ECP office on the hearing day, many PTI leaders are frequently engaging the media to defend the government.

An official source told Dawn that Prime Minister Imran Khan had tasked his spokespersons with countering the opposition's narrative on the foreign funding case in the media and apprising people of the actual situation and the official point of view.

On the other hand, PDM's steering committee will be meeting on Monday (today) with Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in the chair to give final touches to the opposition's protest programme for Tuesday.

Minister says opposition misleading people, intimidating the institution

In a statement, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) information secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb said the party's vice president, Maryam Nawaz, would lead the rally from Rawalpindi, which would then turn into a public meeting outside the ECP headquarters on Constitution Avenue.

Information Minister Shibli Faraz and Parliamentary Secretary for Railways Farrukh Habib, at a press conference later in the day, claimed that the opposition parties had tried to trap the PTI but had themselves been caught in their web.

He said the main opposition parties - Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and PML-N - had no answer about their own foreign funding and were, therefore, marching towards the ECP office to pressurise the commission.

The foreign funding case against the PTI was filed in November 2014 by Akbar S. Babar, a founding member of the party. The case relates to allegations of undisclosed foreign funding of the PTI.

According to Mr Babar, 200 hearings have taken place in the case over the last six years.

'Opposition parties' planned protest outside the ECP was a crude attempt to mislead people and intimidate the national institution,' the information minister said.

He claimed that the PPP and PML-N had failed to submit satisfactory replies to the ECP's scrutiny committee on foreign funding and were now trying to mislead people by staging a rally.

Mr Faraz said the prime minister had already predicted...