Govt doubles down on decision to ban PTI

The federal government has reiterated its stance on imposing a ban on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), stressing it will continue with its "principled" decision which will be implemented after due consultations and completing relevant legal pre-requisites.

Speaking on Geo News' programme "Capital Talk" on Tuesday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said: "We have consulted with PPP, MQM-P [...] People are strongly supporting [idea of] banning PTI."

Tarar's statement comes as last week he announced the incumbent government's decision to ban the former ruling party as it "could not co-exist" with Pakistan.

The decisions, as per Tarar, were taken in light of the former ruling party's involvement in the May 9 events and the PTI's former or current leaders' attempts to sabotage Pakistan's deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Furthermore, he also said that treason cases would be filed under Article 6 of the Constitution against PTI founder Imran Khan, then-president Arif Alvi and then National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri.

However, the announcement drew a strong reaction from various political parties who termed the move as "childish" and "unconstitutional".

Multiple senior PPP leaders, which is a key ally of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), also voiced their opposition to the ban move with Farhatullah Babar terming the decision as "absurd".

Various party leaders, including Senator Sherry Rehman and Information Secretary Shazia Atta Marri, also complained about the party not being consulted on the said matter.

Meanwhile, former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani said the talk of banning a political party by the government "is against all the norms of democracy".

However, the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians later distanced itself from the Bilawal Bhutto-led PPP with PPPP Secretary General Nayyar Hussain Bokhari saying that the party leader's remarks did not reflect the party's policy.

Additionally, the prospects of banning the PTI were also criticised by recently launched Awam Pakistan's Shahid Khaqan Abbasi — the former prime minister and senior leader of the PMl-N.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and the US State Department also expressed concerns over PM Shehbaz's government's move to ban the former ruling party as well.