Story highlights

• PML-N decides to ban PTI
• Imran Khan’s party wants to know about coalition partners position
• Review petition filed in SC against reserved seats case decision
• A reference under Article 6 (high treason) of the Constitution will be moved in the SC against Imran Khan, Arif Alvi, and Qasim Suri
• Government to pass resolution in National Assembly against people conducting anti-state campaign from abroad

The federal government has decided to move a case in the apex court to ban Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Monday, days after twin court decisions that favoured the former leader.

“We are going to ban the Tehreek-i-Insaf and we think that Article 17 of the Constitution allows the federal government to ban political parties and this matter will be sent to the Supreme Court,” he said at a press conference in Islamabad focused on the PTI.

“Every citizen, not being in the service of Pakistan, shall have the right to form or be a member of a political party, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan,” says Article 17 (2) of the Constitution.

It further adds that “such law shall provide that where the Federal Government declares that any political party has been formed or is operating in a manner prejudicial to the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan, the Federal Government shall, within fifteen days of such declaration, refer the matter to the Supreme Court whose decision on such reference shall be final.”

Amid the legal battles, former prime minister Imran Khan and his PTI got major relief last week when an Islamabad judge overturned his illegal marriage conviction while the top court awarded the former ruling party more parliamentary seats.

Both cases were considered a major blow to the coalition government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Shari as many believed the decision would end the treasury benches majority in the National Assembly.

“We think that we have enough credible evidence to impose a ban on the PTI,” Tarar said while highlighting the foreign funding case, May 9 riots, cipher episode, and a Congress resolution in the US parliament on Pakistan’s elections.

He also played audio and video clips that allegedly showed PTI leadership’s involvement in the “anti-state” activities.

Khan, 71, was banned from contesting the February elections while the PTI was sidelined and the Sharif-helmed alliance of parties came to power.

In a statement, a PTI spokesman said the bid to formally ban the party “is a sign of panic as they have realised the courts can’t be threatened and put under pressure”.

“PTI and Pakistan cannot go forward together,” Tarar said. “No more. Enough is enough. They [PTI] have played with the country’s fate too much,” he added.

The minister accused the PTI of resettling the banned terrorist organisation Taliban in Pakistan while also attacking state and military installations over political aims. Khan had made fake claims about the cipher leading to relations between Pakistan and US being damaged, he claimed.

Tarar alleged that PTI received foreign funding, including from India and Israel. He accused PTI leaders of strengthening “anti-state forces.” Legal action would be taken against all individuals involved in the matter, including the seizure of passports and other strict measures.

Treason trial against Khan, Alvi, and Suri

While speaking about the time when the then-government decided to dissolve the assemblies during the no-confidence motion against ex-PM Imran Khan, Tarar said the ruling alliance has also decided to move a reference under Article 6 of the Constitution against the then-prime minister, then-president Arif Alvi and then former National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri.

“The reference, under Article 6, will be sent to the Supreme Court after being approved by the cabinet,” Tarar said.

Article 6 of the Constitution states: “Any person who abrogates or subverts or suspends or hold in abeyance, or attempts or conspires to abrogate or subvert or suspend or hold in abeyance the Constitution by use of force or show force or by any other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason.”

As regards alleged anti-state campaign and conspiracies from abroad, the minister claimed that a handful of overseas Pakistanis who collected funds to weaken Pakistan, did not represent the majority who had been contributing to the national economy by sending massive remittances.

A resolution would be passed in the House to take action against such elements, he added.

Review petition against reserved seats decision

As regards a decision on reserved seats, he said the decision had created an impression that “the given relief is uncalled for”.

According to Tarar, the PTI was not a party to the case, nor did their members claim to be members of the PTI; all of them joined the Sunni Itehad Council and submitted their affidavits. He added that the SIC did not allow non-Muslims to be the members of the party which technically deprived the party of its minority seats.

“Keeping in view the legal loophole in this judgement, the government and its allies have decided to file a review petition,” he added.

The women and minorities, who suffered injustices, believed that this review petition should be filed, the minister said.

“We respect the judiciary wholeheartedly and we have the legal right to appeal against the decision and the government is going to file the review petition,” Tarar said in response to a query.

Later in the day, the government filed a review petition in the apex court.

Read more:

PTI submits affidavits confirming affiliations of 25 MNAs in ECP

How party position in NA can change after SC verdict

Handful miscreants in PTI hell-bent on sabotaging Pakistan-IMF deal: Tarar

Imran Khan’s party wants to know whether ruling allies supported PTI ban

The coalition partners of the federal government should clarify whether they supported the PML-N’s decision to impose a ban on PTI or not, incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan’s party leader said on Monday.

“Political parties including PPP and MQM should make it known whether they are standing with the PML-N or not,” he said at a press conference in Islamabad after the information minister’s presser.

“Self-proclaimed democratic parties need to be transparent about their policies.”

‘Political desperation’

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan called the attempt to ban PTI “an enormous blow to democratic norms” and said it “reeks of political desperation”.

“If pushed through, it will achieve nothing more than deeper polarisation and the strong likelihood of political chaos and violence,” Chairman Asad Iqbal Butt said in a statement.

Khan served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was ousted through a vote of no-confidence.

In opposition, more than 200 court cases were brought against him. He was first briefly arrested in May 2023 – sparking nationwide unrest, some of which targeted military installations.

Islamabad used the riots as justification for a crackdown which saw senior PTI leaders jailed or defect, before Khan was re-arrested last August and barred from standing for office.

PTI members were forced to campaign for February 8 elections as independents, and in the days ahead of the vote Khan was hit with a trio of convictions for graft, treason and illegal marriage.

‘Very difficult to prove’

Independent legal expert Osama Malik warned “it would be very difficult to prove, before the Supreme Court, that an entire party should be banned for the actions of a few”.

“It would be in violation of the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of association,” he told AFP.

(With input from agencies)