Asad Umar tenders apology to ECP in contempt case
Umar asserts that the ECP is not a court and cannot handle contempt cases. Content that is presented in court is not defamatory: Umar. ECP, according to a former planning minister, "only focused on PTI's scrutiny."
ISLAMABAD: Asad Umar, general secretary of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), offered an apology to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday in response to a contempt case the electoral body had filed against him.
The contempt case brought by PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Umar, and Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry was heard by the ECP.
Umar stated that the ECP did not contain anything that could be considered insulting. I apologize if the ECP still believes it was insulted. He continued, “I leave myself at its mercy.”
A response to the notice of cause was also submitted by the leader of the PTI. Umar stated in his response that the notice was against the law.
He argued that “the ECP can send a show-cause notice, not its secretary.”
The leader of the PTI stated that he had not said anything that showed contempt for the ECP and that he had not attempted to defame it. The party had responded to the ECP’s bias against them, he stated.
He asserted, “The ECP gave a unilateral report based on malice in the prohibited funding case.” He stated that the commission had sent the case to the government for action and declared it a foreign-funded party.
“The ECP is only hearing cases against the PTI because PTI cases have short dates and other cases have long dates,” He added that only the PTI’s scrutiny was completed in the funding case as well.
Faisal Chaudhry, the lawyer for Imran Khan and Fawad Chaudhry, stated that elections were being held in their constituency. Fawad and I are both running for office. As a result, it would make sense to announce the date following the election.
The hearing was postponed until February 28 by the ECP.
