- Apex Court grills Daniyal Aziz, Hanif Abbasi over court criticism
Arguing before Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar-led three-member Bench, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Counsel Anwar Mansour, on Wednesday, said that the petition filed against PTI leader Imran Khan and General Secretary Jahangir Khan Tareen did not differentiate among aid, funding and donation, thus admissible.
Advocate Naeem Bukhari, PTI’s main counsel, concluded his arguments on Tuesday and told the court that he’ll be out of the country on leave for the next 10 days, citing a personal reason.
On Wednesday, Mansour started his arguments before the apex court in a petition filed by PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi in which he demanded disqualification of PTI leaders as members of the National Assembly, citing various reasons.
The bench seemed unconvinced over the line of argument opted by the PTI counsel where he said that the issue of foreign funding belongs to the past and couldn’t be reopened, citing that ECP had raised no objection in an audit report back in 2010.
CJ Saqib Nisar and Justice Umer Atta Bandial showed dissatisfaction with the argument being forwarded; Justice Bandial asked whether a political party can ever be free from its past, while CJ Nisar showed outright dissatisfaction on the foreign funding issue and the attempt to justify it.
After admitting to the contributions from foreign nationals, Advocate Mansour attempted to define the difference between various forms of funds by saying contributions and donations are given unconditionally; while funding comes with conditions attached.
The PTI on Wednesday also submitted a plethora of documents comprising of financial brief of its chapter in United States of America, details of its bank accounts, financial statements of past years, reports approved by auditors, tax returns, and foreign funding details.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Saqib Nisar summoned Daniyal Aziz and Hanif Abbasi on the dice and questioned them about the statements they made on Tuesday about impartiality and discrimination on part of the Supreme Court.
“If such behaviour continues in the future, we’ll have to completely ban the media talks about proceedings of the court,” remarked the chief justice, adding that the atmosphere of mistrust and lack of confidence must come to an end. “These are your institutions, strengthen them,” he commented.
Daniyal Aziz offered his apologies to the court and said that if he had committed some mistake, the court may forgive him.
Many observers said that the PTI had a tough day today in the court as the bench seemed unsatisfied, especially with the argument that since the accounts have been approved by Election Commission of Pakistan, they cannot be opened.
The hearing is adjourned till Thursday (today).