By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The coalition government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said it would seek to ban the opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and charge its leader, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, with high treason.
Information Minister Atta Tarar said the government had evidence that the PTI was involved in foreign funding, rioting, and manipulating a diplomatic cipher, and would refer the matter to the Supreme Court.
“In view of the foreign funding case, May 9 riots, and the cipher episode as well as the resolution passed in the US, we believe that there is very credible evidence present to have the PTI banned,” Tarar told a news conference in Islamabad. “The government has decided to pursue a case to ban PTI.”
“Under Article 17 of the Constitution, which relates to banning political parties and grants power to the federal government in this regard, this issue will be sent to the Supreme Court … We believe there is credible evidence for banning PTI due to foreign funding, the May 9 attacks, and the cipher episode.”
“PTI and Pakistan cannot co-exist,” Tarar added.
The minister also said the government planned to bring treason charges against Khan and two other senior party leaders – former President Arif Alvi and ex-Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri. “The reference, under Article 6, will be sent to the Supreme Court after being approved by the cabinet.”
The government’s decision comes days after the Supreme Court ruled that Khan’s party was eligible for over 20 extra reserved seats in parliament, ramping up pressure on the weak coalition government of Prime Minister Sharif. Adding to the government’s worries are recent favorable court rulings against Khan and the PTI.
Among four cases in which Khan was convicted and has been jailed since August last year, two have been suspended by courts and he has been acquitted in the others, though new cases have since been brought against him.
Khan became prime minister in August 2018 but was removed from office in April 2022 following a parliamentary vote of no-confidence. The cricketer-turned-politician has since faced a series of legal woes, including charges of misplacing and leaking the content of a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan’s then-ambassador in the United States in 2022.
Khan has repeatedly denied the charge, saying the document contained evidence that his removal as prime minister was a plot hatched by his political opponents and the country’s powerful military, with help from the US administration. Washington and the Pakistani army reject the accusation.
The PTI said that the government’s decision to impose a ban on the party could “uproot the foundations of the country”.
“No patriot can think of banning the largest and most popular party of the country, as doing so would be tantamount to uprooting the foundations of Pakistan and sending the country towards civil war,” the party said in a post on social media platform X.
The PTI called all cases against the party and Khan as being “politically motivated”.
“This is a sign of panic as they [federal government] have realized the courts can’t be threatened and put under pressure,” senior PTI leader Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari said in a statement shared with reporters.
“I have been saying for a while now that we are under a soft martial law and this move only proves our point further.”
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said it was shocked by the government’s decision to ban the PTI.
“The move is a flagrant violation of party members’ rights and was an enormous blow to democratic norms given that the SC had unanimously ruled the PTI was a political party,” HRCP said in a statement. “Moreover, such a move reeks of political desperation.”
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