'Prohibited, not foreign funding' case, ECP tells staff.

ISLAMABAD -- In a significant move, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday directed its staff to list the 'foreign funding' case against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf as 'prohibited funding' from now on.

The development came after Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, who was heading an ECP bench hearing the case, agreed with PTI lawyer Anwar Mansoor Khan's stance that the case should be listed as prohibited funding, and not foreign funding.

The CEC, however, pointed out that the PTI itself had been using the term foreign funding for the case. 'Your clients have been using the term 'foreign funding' on media,' Mr Raja told the PTI's counsel.

Anwar Khan, while concluding his arguments in the case, said the Elections Act 2017 allowed receiving funds from overseas Pakistanis, but prohibited procuring funds from anyone else other than them.

'Branding the case as foreign funding is a misnomer. The correct name should be prohibited funding case,' he argued.

However, Syed Ahmad Hassan Shah, the counsel for petitioner Akbar S. Babar, contended that the PPO 2002 clearly classified a party funded by foreigners or foreign companies as a 'foreign-aided political party'. Even the terms of reference of the ECP...

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