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.”
This came after Attaullah Tarar announced that the federal government has decided to move the Supreme Court to impose a ban on the PTI under Article 17 of the Constitution.
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.
Ayub accused the PML-N leadership of “attacking the judiciary” in an attempt to bring it under their influence. He stated that the current government was a “minority administration.”
He warned that the country was facing skyrocketing inflation and prices of electricity, gas, petrol, and wheat flour were set to rise further. He said a “flood of inflation” is on the horizon.
The former minister reiterated his party’s stance, stating that they want the supremacy of the Constitution and law in the country, rejecting any notion of “civil dictatorship or civil martial law.”
PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan, who accompanied Ayub at the press conference, was of the view that the government was violating the Supreme Court’s decision.
He claimed that such steps were being taken to divert attention from inflation. He alleged that there was an attempt to block PTI’s reserved seats.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandpur wondered if a government which has “stolen the mandate” would ban PTI.
In a statement, he said the government would face defeat despite using all kinds of tactics. “The ‘mandate thief’ government has gone berserk.”
He said that the decision regarding reserved seats was made by the Supreme Court under the Constitution.
In an interview with a private TV channel, senior PTI leader Ali Zafar said that the party would not let the government implement the ban decision “even for a second.”
He said: “There is no room for such a ban in the law.” While discussing the verdict on the reserved seats case, Zafar said the government has been dealt a blow, calling it completely “illegal”.
He criticised the federal minister’s references to Article 6, saying perhaps such people do not read the law, as Article 6 was about the crime of treason, which is a different type of offence than just violating the law.
Zafar argued that if such treason cases were filed, then cases of treason could also be brought against parliamentarians, stating that no case under Article 6 can be made as it would be so baseless that it won’t stand.
Commenting on the government’s review petition, Zafar said the government has the right to file a review, but the review case would go to the same judges who made the original decision. In his view, the current verdict is unlikely to be changed, as the judges have delivered their ruling after careful consideration.
