ISLAMABAD -
After the Pakistan "Insaf" party led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan achieved some political gains by winning by-elections in Punjab, Pakistan's largest province, and overthrowing the government of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Sharif party, "Insaf" is facing headwinds that may cause In a major blow to him and his leader Imran Khan.
On Tuesday, the Election Commission of Pakistan confirmed that PTI had obtained millions of dollars in illegal funding from abroad, and that it had used 16 secret bank accounts to do so.
PTI and its leader Imran Khan are accused of receiving suspicious foreign funding, which is illegal in Pakistan.
A judicial panel of the Election Commission of Pakistan found that PTI had received funding from 34 foreign nationals and 351 companies based outside Pakistan.
Imran Khan and his party are accused of receiving money from abroad through secret accounts and providing false information about these accounts (Reuters)
Case wallpapers
The Election Commission of Pakistan is investigating the party's receipt of funding over a period of more than 7 years, and last January, the Audit Commission issued a report in which it said that the party had received funding from foreign citizens and companies, and accused it of not reporting funds and hiding dozens of bank accounts, which is the basis On which its last decision was based, the same charges were directed against the party.
The investigation into PTI funding began when Akbar Babar, who helped found the party, filed a complaint in December 2014. According to the Pakistani newspaper, The Observer, although thousands of Pakistanis around the world have sent money to PTI. In fairness, Babar insisted that "prohibited financing happened".
In the last session, the relevant Judicial Committee said that the party had provided a false statement on its bank accounts, and that it had hidden 13 bank accounts, as the committee accused party leader Imran Khan of providing "inaccurate and false" reports and data, as stated in its official statement.
The statement said that over a period of 5 years (from 2008 to 2013), Imran Khan provided inaccurate information and data about the party's financing and the source of its funds.
Before issuing the latest decision, the British Financial Times revealed some "horrific" statements regarding this issue, and said that PTI was the only direct beneficiary of the support provided by Pakistani businessman Arif Naqvi.
The newspaper revealed the use of Wootton Cricket, a subsidiary of the Abraaj Foundation, which is run by Naqvi (a company established in the Cayman Islands, in the United Kingdom), to fund the Equity Party after receiving funds from companies and individuals, including at least two million pounds in April. April 2013 from the UAE Minister.
“Prohibited Financing” Not “Foreign Financing”
After the election commission’s decision, the case’s presenter, Akbar Babar, said that “Insaf” and its leader provided false testimonies and information about foreign funding, and that the law must take its course to hold corrupt parties accountable, and that what happened is an end to the “fascism” of the Insaf Party, as he put it.
On the other hand, the Insaf Party organized a press conference in front of the Elections Committee in the capital (Islamabad) immediately after the decision, to defend its position.
"This is not an issue of foreign funding, it is a case of prohibited funding," said former parliamentarian and party member Farroukh Habib, adding that those who had paid for "foreign funding" were very disappointed because "Insaf was not banned today, and what happened was just a notification," he said. "We will give an adequate response to the notice."
"Foreign funding" is more dangerous than "prohibited funding" according to Pakistani law, as the first includes foreign support from external government agencies, and this means criminalizing the party by banning and stopping it from working, but prohibited funding means receiving support from individuals, and its punishment is confiscation of suspected funds.
At the press conference, former parliamentarian and party member Malika Bukhari said that "fairness" was not the type to accept foreign funding, yet "propaganda" against it continued for years from parties opposing the party.
She stressed that those parties were "disappointed" after the decision was issued.
While the former Minister of Information, and also a party member, Fuad Chaudhry, said that "Imran Khan was not obligated to reveal the accounts referred to by the Election Commission because they do not belong to him, but they are legal accounts, and we can justify their sources simply."
"On the other hand, we all know where the Muslim League, the People's Party and others come from with their suspicious funding," Chaudhry added.
Supporters of the PTI wear masks with pictures of its leader Imran Khan after the overthrow of his government last April (French)
Possible consequences
In this context, legal expert Haider Waheed, in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, indicated the official consequences of the election commission's decision, and said that they include:
First: To draw attention. Imran Khan and his party must respond to the observations made by the Election Commission, and this strongly influences the Commission's decision if such funding is prohibited.
As for the second scenario, it includes - according to Waheed - the intervention of political competitors to confirm that Imran Khan is not qualified because he does not have credibility, and he gave false information about bank accounts and funding sources.
Waheed says the federal government can dissolve the Insaf party and send the decision within 15 days to the Supreme Court, which has the final decision.
In this context, journalist and political analyst Waqs Ali Chaudhry says the federal government now has a real case to file against PTI and its leader, by referring the case to the Supreme Court against Imran Khan.
Chaudhry says in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, "If we look at the Pakistani political scene, the position of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Sharif party since its rise to power has become strong against the PTI, and it will try to build a strong discourse against Imran Khan, and seek to adopt legal action against him."
The future of "equity" and Imran Khan
Expert Haider Waheed says that the latest decision came about 8 years after the case was suspended, "and this opens the door to Imran Khan's incompetence, whether he acted intentionally or if he was not aware of that funding, so the final battle will be in the court arena and it will take a long time, It could affect his candidacy in the next elections, but at the same time, the outcome is still not clear.”
Waheed adds, "I think if the Insaf Party is dissolved, this will be a political game and they will come back under another name."
While Waqas Chaudhry believes that "fairness" does not face many problems in light of the election commission's decision, "this may not affect Imran Khan politically, but it may create legal problems," he said.
On the impact on the Pakistani political scene, Chaudhry says that "all this matter will not end soon, and it is just the beginning of a long battle politically and legally."