The Pakistan government is considering banning former prime minister Imran Khan’s political party PTI, defence minister Khawaja Asif said on Wednesday.
He, however, said that the matter will be referred to the parliament for approval if the government finally decides to ban the former ruling party.
The move comes amid political instability in the country following Khan’s arrest on May 9 on corruption charges, before he walked free on bail on court orders.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairperson Imran Khan, who says the corruption charges have been concocted, is embroiled in a confrontation with the present government and state institutions.
“It is under consideration to ban PTI,” Asif told reporters. “The PTI has attacked the very basis of the state, that never happened before. It can’t be tolerated.”
The former PM’s arrest sparked widespread protests across the country. Army establishments and state buildings faced arson and vandalism.
PTI lawyer Ali Zafar said that even if such a decision is made, it is likely to be declared “null and void within a day” by the Supreme Court (SC) as a political party cannot be banned.
The statement came in response to a question from the media outside the Supreme Court. The lawyer referred to the past case of banning Jamat-e-Islami (JI).
“An attempt had been made to ban Jamat-e-Islami a long time ago but the Supreme Court ruled that a ban cannot be imposed as it was a basic right of everyone to create a political party,” Zafar said.
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