Pakistan government says it will ban Imran Khan’s opposition party PTI

Pakistan minister says government will seek Supreme Court of Pakistan’s help to ban largest opposition party

Pakistan is set to ban former prime minister and opposition leader Imran Khan’s political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), officials said on Monday.

It comes just days after a court acquitted Mr Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi on charges of unlawful marriage.

Information minister Attaullah Tarar said in a press conference in Islamabad on Monday that a move to ban PTI would be discussed in cabinet and that the government would go to the Supreme Court to push it through, if necessary.

Citing several pending court cases against Mr Khan, Mr Tarar said the country cannot move forwards as long as Mr Khan’s party exists.

Mr Khan has been granted bail or acquitted in a number of the more than 100 criminal cases that have been brought against him since he was removed from office through a vote of no confidence. He says the charges are all politically motivated, and denies any wrongdoing.

A number of the cases against the former prime minister and his party stem from the unrest in May last year that followed his arrest, when some of his supporters attacked facilities associated with the military establishment.

“In view of the foreign funding case, 9 May 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,” Mr Tarar said, according to Pakistan daily Dawn.

He added that prime minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government would petition the Supreme Court to review a ruling from last week that PTI is eligible for reserved seats in parliament for women and minorities.

“You tried to damage the country’s diplomatic relations for the sake of your political interests and went on to get a resolution passed against Pakistan in the US,” Mr Tarar said, appearing to refer to a recent US House resolution critical of the country’s February election, in which PTI emerged as the largest single party despite having thousands of its activists arrested in the lead up to the vote.

Officials from PTI quickly responded to the minister, saying his argument has “no merit”.

Sayed Z Bukhari, a senior member of PTI who served in the former prime minister’s cabinet, said the minister’s comments showed Pakistan was under “soft martial law”.

“This is a sign of panic, as they have realised the courts can’t be threatened and put under pressure,” he said.

PTI officials have repeatedly warned that the country’s democracy is under threat from what they say is a government working closely with the country’s military.

In May this year, Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif had warned that the government will ban Mr Khan’s PTI as it had attacked the “very basis of state”, something which could not be tolerated. He said at the time that any move to ban the party would require parliamentary backing.