Islamabad: The Shehbaz Sharif-led government in Pakistan has decided to ban the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by the jailed former PM Imran Khan.
The Pakistani government alleges that PTI is involved in anti-state activities.
This decision was announced by Pakistan’s Information Minister, Attaullah Tarar, in a press conference on Monday. “The government has decided that the federal government will move a case to ban the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf),” Tarar said.
Tarar cited “credible evidence” for the ban, pointing to the foreign funding case, the May 9 riots, the cipher episode, and a resolution passed in the US as grounds for this action. The government plans to refer the case to the Supreme Court.
Imran Khan has been incarcerated for almost a year after a slew of charges were pressed against him. Khan says these court cases were orchestrated against him to prevent his return to power.
The decision comes in the wake of a recent Supreme Court order that declared Imran Khan’s party eligible for seats reserved for women and minorities, which positioned PTI to potentially become the single-largest party in the country’s Parliament. This development threatens the ruling alliance’s two-thirds majority.
