‘Prohibited funds’: ECP to hear case against MQM-Haqiqi on 11th
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has fixed a case against a political party for hearing for receiving “prohibited funds from different private entities/firms” during a previous financial year.
A cause list recently issued by the ECP suggests that the said case has been fixed for hearing against Mohajir Qaumi Movement Pakistan, commonly known as MQM-Haqiqi, for receiving prohibited funds from different private entities/firms during the financial year 2023-24.
The case is scheduled to be heard by an ECP bench on the coming November 11, according to the cause list.
The MQM-H is not the first political party facing an ECP case on the allegations of receiving prohibited funds.
On 2 August 2022, the electoral body finally announced the much-hyped and long-awaited verdict in the Prohibited Funding Case (formerly known as foreign funding case) against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)— around eight years after the case landed in the electoral body in November 2014.
In the said verdict, the ECP declared that the PTI received prohibited funds through different channels. The 70-page verdict, issued by a three-member ECP bench, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, came under massive public criticism over allegedly serious discrepancies in it.
In response, in a statement issued then, the electoral body rejected this criticism as “misleading and false propaganda.”
The Section 204(3) of the Elections Act, 2017 provides that “any contribution or donation made, directly or indirectly, by any foreign source including any foreign government, multi-national or public or private company, firm, trade or professional association or individual shall be prohibited.”
The subsequent Section 204(4) reads that any contribution or donation which is prohibited under this law “shall be confiscated in favour of the government in such manner as may be prescribed.”
Having faced serious allegations of militancy in Karachi in the past, the MQM-H is headed by Afaq Ahmad. The political party was jointly founded by Ahmad and Amir Khan in 1992. Ahmad was once regarded as a close aide of Altaf Hussain, who originally founded the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) in 1984. The two leaders parted ways reportedly following serious differences. Hussian later founded Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which was also abbreviated as (MQM), and also faced serious allegations of involvement in militancy in Karachi in the past. In 2016, the Hussain-led MQM split into MQM-London, led by Hussain, and MQM-Pakistan, led by Farooq Sattar.
Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, the incumbent Federal Education Minister, currently heads the MQM-P as its Convenor.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026