Federal govt decides to ‘ban’ Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)

ISLAMABAD: Federal Information Minister Atta Tarar has announced that the federal government will move a case to ban Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the Minister of Information said that the government has decided this due to the former ruling party’s involvement in many anti-state activities. “The government has the authority to ban a party if it is involved in anti-state activities under Article 17 of the Constitution.”

The government’s decision comes days after relief was given to the PTI in the case of the reserved seats from the Supreme Court as well as to the party founder Imran Khan in the Iddat case.

“PTI and Pakistan cannot co-exist for the country’s progress,” Tarar said, adding that the government would move the top court to file a petition to ban the party after the approval of the federal cabinet. “Ban on the PTI will be discussed in the next cabinet meeting,” he added.

Furthermore, he said that the government will move a reference against former President Arif Alvi, former Prime Minster Imran Khan, and former Deputy Speaker NA Qasim Suri under Article 6. “This reference, under Article 6, will be sent to the Supreme Court after the cabinet’s approval.”

Attaullah Tarar added that the decision was taken in light of the former ruling party’s involvement in the May 9 events and the PTI’s former or current leaders’ attempts to sabotage Pakistan’s deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“In view of the foreign funding case, May 9 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 the PTI banned,” he said.

The minister said that the patience and tolerance of the government were considered its weakness. “No more, Enough is enough. They have played with the country’s fate too much,” he added.

While addressing the presser, the information minister also said that the ruling coalition has decided to submit a review petition before the Supreme Court against its recent verdict on the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) appeal, declaring that PTI would be eligible for reserved seats.

He said that the petition will ask whether the Election Act 2017 sections be declared void and whether the Parliament holds the authority to interpret and amend the Constitution or not.

“However, Tehreek-i-Insaf was not a party in the case, the members [in question] did not claim to be PTI candidates, and all of them submitted Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) affidavits and joined the party”, he said, adding that according to the manifesto of the SIC, a non-Muslim could not become a member of the party which is why the party could not get minorities’ seats.