IHC does away with deadline for 'prohibited funding' case.

ISLAMABAD -- The Islamabad High Court on Thursday set aside the 30-day deadline stipulated by a single-member bench to conclude the much-delayed prohibited funding case against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

An IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Babar Sattar issued a detailed judgement on an appeal against the order of the single bench that direcAted the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conclude the prohibited funding case in 30 days.

The IHC division bench had on April 25 issued an interim order suspending the single bench's directive for the ECP to decide the pending complaint in the prohibited funding case within a 'period of 30 days by all means'.

PTI secretary general Asad Umar had filed the appeal against the order of the single bench that also allowed Akbar S. Babar, the complainant and founding member of the PTI, to participate in the proceedings of the prohibited funding case.

The PTI, in its appeal, sought a court directive that the sources of foreign funding be kept confidential. It also expressed reservations over the remarks of the single bench judge, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, that 'if any of the party funding has been received through prohibited sources, it will affect the status of such political party, including its chairman. Therefore, it is necessary to dig out the truth.'

According to the appeal, these observations were not warranted as the 'judge was not mandated to use such harsh language to the utter disadvantage of the appellant'.

It stated that the commission was conducting scrutiny of only...