PML-N leader demands Pak PM Imran Khan resign after ECP finds PTI hid funds worth millions

As Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was accused in the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) findings that the PTI hid millions of rupees worth of funds, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Shehbaz Sharif has stated that Prime Minister Imran Khan should resign. As per a report by ANI, Sharif said that the audit found that the PTI hid funds worth millions of rupees, and a person who hides facts, steals and lies, cannot occupy constitutional government, or political posts.

In addition, the PML-N leader stated that Imran Khan's urgent resignation is required under Pakistan''s Constitution, law, and ethics. He further said that all parties and workers who believe in the Constitution and the rule of law will have to play a role in dragging Pakistan out of this constitutional vacuum.

PTI gave fake information: ECP

The ECP investigation stated that PTI gave fake information about the party's funding and that the party received Rs 1.64 billion in finance from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), according to the ANI report. The PTI also failed to disclose funding worth more than Rs 310 million to the ECP. The PTI's foreign funding was audited by a scrutiny committee that was constituted in 2019. The PTI said it was in the clear and had not withheld anything from the ECP when the report surfaced in the media earlier this week.

Shehbaz Sharif also said that if the law can apply to a popular leader like Nawaz Sharif, why can't it apply to Imran Khan and that if a Panama Papers JIT report can be constituted against Nawaz Sharif and monitored by the Supreme Court's honourable judges, why can't the same thing be done for Imran Khan, according to a report by The News International. 

The country is run without a true Prime Minister

He also claimed that the country is run without a true Prime Minister and that it is ruled in a constitutional and legal vacuum. He said that there is no leader of the Parliament in Pakistan. Shehbaz further stated that Imran Khan cannot decide on the affairs of the country under the law and Constitution, according to the News International report.

He continued by stating that any action made by the government after the ECP scrutiny report cannot be regarded as constitutional or legitimate.

(With inputs from ANI, Image: AP)