Pakistan’s government seeks to ban party of former PM Imran Khan

Pakistan’s government is seeking to ban the party of the imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan.

The move comes days after a supreme court ruling made the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) the largest party in the country’s parliament.

The information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said the government would also go to court to press for treason charges against Khan, who was removed from power in a no-confidence vote in 2022 and drew large crowds of supporters on to the streets before his arrest and jailing in August 2023.

Tarar said the move to ban the PTI was because Khan’s supporters had targeted military installations during violence after his earlier arrest on corruption charges in May last year and over allegations of foreign funding.

Despite a severe crackdown, millions voted for the PTI in elections in February this year and the party, which was forced to field candidates as independents, claimed victory amid allegations of massive vote rigging in favour of the ruling government. Protests erupted across the country days after the elections.

The supreme court ruled last week that the PTI was a political party and eligible for 20 further seats in a post-election dispute that arose from its candidates running as independents. The ruling handed PTI members seats reserved for women and minorities.

Major cases against Khan have been suspended, including a conviction for illegal marriage that carried a seven-year sentence but was overturned by a court in Islamabad on Saturday.

Sayed Zulfi Bukhari, a close aide and adviser on international affairs and media, said: “This is a move towards a soft martial law. This is a sign of panic as they have realised the courts can’t be threatened and put under pressure.”

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), a local NGO, said a ban on the PTI was unconstitutional. “It is also an enormous blow to democratic norms, especially when the supreme court has unanimously ruled that the PTI is a political party,” HRCP said in statement.

The PTI has faced a severe crackdown since last year. Its leaders were harassed and arrested in the run-up to the general election and the military forced Khan’s close aides to leave the party.

Sheikh Waqas Akram, a PTI MP, claimed the government’s mood had turned since last week’s ruling. “The government has become frustrated after the recent decision of supreme court, as PTI has become the largest party in the parliament,” he said. “They [the government] are taking the country towards anarchy. We have said it since February election, it is not a legitimate government. The court decision has proved that.”