Islamabad, 15 July

In a controversial move, the Pakistan government on Monday announced that it would ban jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party for its alleged involvement in anti-state activities and slap cases against him and two of his senior party colleagues for treason.

“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 Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) banned,” Information Minister Attaullah Tarar made the surprising announcement at a press conference here.

Khan, 71, has been lodged at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on account of multiple cases against him since his ouster as prime minister in April 2022.

Upping the ante against PTI, the federal government has decided to ban the former ruling party as well as file cases against PTI founder Khan and former Pakistan president Arif Alvi for treason under Article 6, Geo News said.

Tarar said that if the country is to move in a forward direction, it cannot do so with PTI’s existence. “Our patience and tolerance are considered as our weaknesses. The PTI and Pakistan cannot co-exist as the government is trying to stabilise the country politically and economically, while efforts are being made to thwart its efforts,” Tarar said and added that the federal government would move the apex court to file a petition to ban the party.

Tarar also announced that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led government and its coalition partners have decided to file a review appeal against the decision of the Supreme Court granting reserved seats to the PTI in the National Assembly. “The apex court gave relief to the PTI which had not even asked for it,” the minister said.

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

Referring to the time when the then-government decided to dissolve the assemblies during the no-confidence motion against Khan in 2022, the minister said the ruling alliance has also decided to move a case against the then-prime minister, then-president Alvi and then National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri.

“Whether it was the foreign funding case, the riots of May 9, or the manipulation of the cipher saga, in which the former Pakistani ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed — who authored the cipher — clarified that there was “no threat”, the PTI continued decrying that the country was in danger. 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,” the Dawn newspaper quoting Tarar as saying.

Incidentally, the government's decision comes on the heels of relief given to the PTI by the Supreme Court in the case of the reserved seats as well as to Khan in the illegal marriage case.

The development also comes following PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s indictment in cases related to the May 9 riots and Khan’s arrest in cases linked to the incidents that took place following Khan's arrest in an alleged corruption case.

In a key judgment, the Supreme Court had last week declared that Khan’s PTI was eligible for the seats reserved for women and minorities in the national and four provincial assemblies. If allotted thus, the PTI will become the largest party in the National Assembly with 109 seats.

On Saturday, a district and session court overturned the conviction of Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, 49, in the un-Islamic marriage case related to the violation of the mandatory waiting period for a Muslim woman between two marriages.

The PTI founder and hundreds of his party colleagues are being tried under multiple cases, including one under the Official Secrets Act, in connection with the 9 May violent protests by his supporters that damaged key military installations across Pakistan last year.

Khan's party workers allegedly vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Jinnah House (Lahore Corps Commander House), Mianwali Airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad. The Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi too was attacked by the mob for the first time.