Pak Govt Mulling To Declare Imran Khan Party PTI As “Proscribed” Outfit

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Islamabad: Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanuallah has said that the government is palnning to consult experts on initiating a process to declare Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party a “proscribed” outfit. This comes after the police claimed to have seized weapons and petrol bombs from the former Pakistan PM’s Lahore residence.

Sanuallah said at a press conference on Saturday that the government would consult its legal team to assess whether a process could be initiated to declare the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party a proscribed group, as reported by Dawn newspaper. “Terrorists were hiding in Zaman Park. Weapons, petrol bombs, etc have been recovered from the residence of Imran Khan which is enough evidence to file a case against the PTI for being a militant organisation,” Sanaullah said, as quoted by the news agency PTI.

Speaking on the government’s plan to initiate the process to ban Imran Khan’s party, the minister said: “Primarily it is a judicial process to declare any party proscribed. However, we will consult our legal team on the issue.” Separately, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appeared to agree with the assertion by his niece PMN-L Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz that Khan’s party is a “militant organisation”.

“If anyone had any doubt, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Niazi’s antics of the last few days laid bare his fascist and militant tendencies,” he said in a tweet. Maryam said Khan was afraid of going to jail.

“I wonder if he calls himself a politician. Politicians are not afraid of going to jail and accountability. Only thieves and terrorists do. Fear of arrest shows cases against him (Imran) are genuine,” she said and taunted the court on marking the attendance of Khan in the Toshakhana case without his appearance before it. “He is a coward as he left the court without marking his attendance”.

The leaders of the ruling alliance lashed out at Imran Khan who travelled from Lahore to Islamabad on Saturday to mark his presence at a district court amidst chaos between his supporters and the police, PTI reported. While he was in Islamabad, over 10,000 armed Punjab police personnel launched a major operation at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore and arrested dozens of his supporters. The police claimed to have seized weapons and petrol bombs.

According to the Dawn newspaper, many PML-N Cabinet members held pressers to justify the police action against Khan and chided his party’s “hooliganism” at the Islamabad judicial complex.

Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar told reporters that in his 30-year professional career as a lawyer, he had never witnessed a court seeking a signature (from a suspect) in a vehicle to mark his attendance like in the case of Imran Khan. “Don’t make a joke of your judicial system,” Tarar said, as reported by the news agency PTI. Federal Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb also took on the judiciary for giving a “bundle package of bail” to Khan.

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