Outcry over govt plan to slap ban on PTI

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE/WASHINGTON: A new storm is brewing on the country’s already murky political horizon following the government’s decision to ban the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and seek Article 6 proceedings against its founder Imran Khan, ex-president Dr Arif Alvi, and former National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri.

Speaking at a news conference here, the government’s chief spokesperson and Information and Broadcasting Minister Attaullah Tarar made this announcement, and asserted that the country could not move forward if the PTI existed.

The development comes on the heels of the Supreme Court verdict in the reserved seats case, which apparently paves the way for the PTI to emerge as the single largest party in the National Assembly.

The government’s move [to ban the PTI] has drawn a sharp criticism and condemnation from the mainstream political parties. Tarar said, “In view of the foreign funding case, May 9 riots, and the cipher episode as well as the resolution passed in the US, the government believes that there is very credible evidence present to have the PTI banned.

“We are going to ban the PTI and we believe that Article 17 of the Constitution gives the government the right to ban political parties, and this matter would be referred to the Supreme Court,” he contended.

Tarar insisted, “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”. He said contrary to the government’s efforts for political and economic stability, efforts were being made to create agitation in the country.

The minister made it clear that the PTI and the country could not go together. “Our goals are set to give relief to the people. A trailer is being played, do anything, conspire against the country, take foreign funding, lobby abroad, raise firms, pass resolutions against Pakistan, create cipher drama, carry out May 9 attacks, try to default the country. There is no one to ask you. This is an impression being made in the country,” he noted.

“Overseas Pakistanis are the ‘crown of our heads’ but certain lobbies are engaged in a conspiracy against our country there. Hence, the government has decided to take a strict disciplinary action against them,” said the minister.

According to the law, he emphasized, if their passports and identity cards have to be blocked, all these steps would be taken and a resolution would be passed in the assembly against the elements guilty of treason by taking prohibited funding. Tarar said during the PTI government’s tenure, half of the PMLN leaders were in jail.

“They deserve to be abused; they made a brother fight against brother, father against son. The PTI founder himself started the tradition of putting women in jails.” Tarar said the government had also decided to file a reference (high treason case) against the then president Alvi, ex-PM Imran, and Qasim Suri under Article 6 of the Constitution for opting for dissolution of the National Assembly in April 2022 despite the fact that a motion of no-confidence was being moved in the House.

The reference, under Article 6, he noted, would be sent to the Supreme Court after the cabinet approval. He said the direction of history should be determined correctly. “Now action would be taken against these three persons and the matter would be referred to the Supreme Court after approval from the cabinet,” he said.

The minister said the government would also submit a review petition to the Supreme Court against its last week’s verdict declaring that the PTI would be eligible for reserved seats for women and minorities.

Regarding the apex court’s verdict, Tarar said an impression was created that the party was given relief without asking for it. “PTI was not party to the case. The members (in question) did not claim to be PTI candidates. And all of them submitted SIC affidavits and joined the party, whereas according to the manifesto of the SIC, a non-Muslim cannot become a member of the party which is why the party (SIC) could not get minorities’ seats,” he maintained.

The (SIC) MNAs, he contended, never expressed their desire to join the PTI before the Supreme Court; therefore, given the legal inaccuracy in this decision, the ruling party and its allies have decided to submit a review petition against the Supreme Court’s verdict.

He claimed that the PTI leaders were now pressuring the NAB to withdraw from the Toshakhana case. “These people are just arbitrarily saying that if there is no Khan, then there is no Pakistan. We also understand this that Imran Khan and Pakistan cannot go together; you are right,” he remarked.

The minister said the government had taken a big decision and will fulfil all the legal requirements in this regard and take the matters forward so that no person or party could think of breaking the Constitution in future.

Responding to a question, Tarar said ban on the PTI was being considered for a long time and legal preparation in this regard was quite extensive. He said the issue might be brought up in the next meeting of the cabinet.

Answering a question about the Faizabad sit-in by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan on the issue of Palestine, he said talks were underway with the party chief Saad Rizvi. In a related development, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and PMLN Quaid and former premier Muhammad Nawaz Sharif deliberated on the situation emanating from the Supreme Court’s recent verdict in the reserved seats case, benefitting the opposition PTI.

It was third meeting between the two siblings at Changla Gali, Murree in three days. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also participated. There was no official word from the party about the meeting but sources said the senior party leaders discussed the current political situation in the country with particular reference to the Supreme Court’s decision and ban on the PTI and filing a treason case against its founder chairman.

Shehbaz apprised Nawaz Sharif of the government’s decision to move ahead with banning the PTI and the legal aspects behind the decision. Sources said Nawaz Sharif directed Shehbaz Sharif to use all constitutional and legal options in this regard. He also asked the prime minister to take President Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and leaders of other government allies into confidence on the decision. The prime minister informed the party Quaid that a meeting of the federal cabinet would also be called to discuss the crucial matter and probably take a final decision on the important matter.

Speaking at a hurriedly called news conference here on Monday along with other party leaders, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said the government’s announcement was a clear abuse of the Supreme Court verdict and a bid to divert attention from the record-breaking inflation.

He also pointed out that it was clear that the PDM was a part of conspiracy to take away the PTI’s symbol ‘bat’.

“We take everything of this announcement seriously; the constitution and the law have been made fun of. It was said that efforts would be made to ban the PTI,” he noted. Gohar claimed this announcement was a clear violation of the Supreme Court decision, as the apex court had clearly said that reserved seats were the PTI’s right.

He said the government was making such announcements to divert attention from inflation, whereas the Supreme Court had also admitted that the PTI had pocketed the most votes during the general elections.

He pointed out that currently there was only one foreign funding case pending with the Election Commission concerning the PMLN and the electoral body had sought evidence of five accounts from the ruling party.

He said the government had already seen the end of the cipher case, which had no grounds and that Article 6 should be applied against those who did unconstitutional activities. Leader of the Opposition and PTI’s Secretary General Omar Ayub contended that the government spokesman’s press conference could be the voice of his heart, whereas it was conducted to actually divert attention from the national issues.

He said record-breaking inflation was out of the rulers’ sight and they were only talking about banning the PTI despite the fact that the Supreme Court had declared it a political party. “By resorting to such actions, the ruling PMLN wants to attack the Supreme Court, while this Form 47 government is standing on the basis of minority,” Omar said.

He pointed out that something had been cooking up in Murree during the last three days and today the spokesman revealed the intention. He claimed that allies, including People’s Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Pakistan, were also unhappy with the government.

Speaking on the occasion, Leader of Opposition in the Senate Shibli Faraz alarmed that the government’s actions would trigger a tsunami of inflation and economic instability, as the dollar was artificially controlled, which would jump up to 350 against the rupee in the coming days.

“PTI is the largest and most popular political force and Imran Khan is the most popular leader of the country, so it is not child’s play to ban it. Ours is the only political party with representation across the country. The puppet government could not take important decisions without the public support,” he asserted, terming Tarar’s presser a political surrender for PMLN that had a track record of corruption and anti-nationalism.

Shibli charged that they were influencing the election tribunals to get decisions of their choice, adding that people had given a befitting reply on February 8 through their power of vote. PTI’s parliamentary leader in the Senate Senator Barrister Syed Ali Zafar rubbished the talk about banning the party under Article 6 and said the government could not ban any party.

Talking to Geo News, he rejected the proposed move and said if the government tried to move forward with its decision, the local courts would not allow it. “They have jumped to this escalation after the judgment on reserved seats. The court’s decision shocked them (rulers) and left them homeless,” he said.

Zafar claimed the government failed to understand Article 6 as it could only be applied for high treason for breaking the law was not treason and that banning any political party had never worked in the past.

The PTI spokesperson termed government’s desire to ban the party a desperate attempt to cover up embarrassment after the Supreme Court’s historic decision in the reserved seats case.

In a statement, he said the party would respond to every conspiracy of the mandate thieves and their patrons with public support at all level and they would not be allowed to succeed in their nefarious designs.

He said the government wanted to scare 240 million people through coercion, intimidation and harassment, but PTI was not a party to be intimidated. JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman said Pakistan would not be able to come out of the political crisis until the army detached itself from the country’s political affairs.

Highlighting the prevailing political crisis in the country, he said: “The army will have to distance itself from politics in order to resolve the political crisis.” Taking to X, Fazl said use of force against political parties was no solution to the problems. Instead, the country could only be back on track if all the institutions limit their role in a framework defined in the Constitution.

“The sooner the powerful circle understands this fact, the better it would be for the country and themselves. The key state institutions should accept that the current hybrid system has failed,” the JUI-F chief wrote on the site.

Terming the government’s move to ban the PTI “childish and injudicious”, the Awami National Party (ANP) said the path of political parties could not be choked with restrictions and hurdles.

“Restrictions on political parties and political process are not acceptable at any cost,” it said. Despite political difference with the PTI, we believe the government’s move would be a folly,” ANP central spokesman said, underscoring the need to identify people who kick up political instability and economic crunch in the country.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM) took to X, and said the PTI had no one to blame but itself for whatever development took place on Monday. The tweet, however, did not explicitly mention the government’s decision to ban the PTI.

The MQM-P said it was concerned about the prevailing political situation in the country. “PTI’s irresponsible, undemocratic, very hardline, anti-state policies & attitude are the reason behind the events unfolding today,” read the tweet.

Jamaat-e-Islami acting Amir Liaquat Baloch condemned the government’s decision, calling it ridiculous and absurd. Addressing a press conference at Mansoorah, Lahore on Monday, he said the government was engaging in dirty politics, warning it of the consequences of this anti-democratic move.

Baloch asserted that the ruling party was acting as a tool of the establishment to stay in power. He urged the political leadership to come together to resolve the ongoing crises in the country.

Restoring the people’s mandate based on Form 45, he suggested, was crucial to solving the current political and economic issues. Recently launched Awam Pakistan’s Shahid Khaqan Abbasi voiced outright condemnation of the ruling coalition, saying they cannot undertake it as they have not studied the Constitution and the law.

The rulers are too fond of invoking Article 6, Abbasi said, predicting “they (rulers) themselves will end up facing treason charges if they invoke Article 6 against the PTI”. He said that banning the PTI would further spoil the situation. “It is not needed that we repeat the mistakes committed by the PTI founder.”