Pakistan to ban Imran Khan’s party, information minister says

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan plans to ban former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, the Information Minister said on July 15.

The decision was based on a number of factors, including the proven charge that Khan’s PTI received foreign funds from sources that are illegal in Pakistan, Minister Attaullah Tarar said.

He also cited rioting by the party’s leadership and supporters in 2023 that targeted military installations.

“The federal government will move a case to ban the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf,” Mr Tarar said, saying the matter would go to Cabinet and the Supreme Court if needed.

PTI candidates contested the Feb 8 election as independents after it was barred from the polls.

The Supreme Court ruled on July 12 that the party was

eligible for more than 20 extra reserved seats in Parliament

, ramping up pressure on the country’s weak coalition government.

It was not immediately clear what impact the planned ban would have on the court’s decision to grant reserved seats.

Mr Tarar said the government would also seek legal review of the reserved seats issue.

A spokesperson for the PTI told AFP that the party “will not tolerate” the government’s effort to ban it.

“PTI has become stronger than before. We will face it,” Mr Raoof Hasan said.

Jailed since August,

Khan was acquitted on July 13

along with his third wife on charges that they married unlawfully, but he will not be freed after the authorities issued new orders to arrest him.

Khan came to power in 2018 and was ousted in 2022 after falling out with Pakistan’s powerful military, which wields huge influence over civilian politics.

A UN panel of experts found in July that Khan’s detention “had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office”.

The “prosecution was not grounded in law and was reportedly instrumentalised for a political purpose”, it said, calling for his immediate release after nearly a year in jail.

Khan has waged a campaign of defiance against Pakistan’s generals, who directly ruled the country for decades, accusing them of being behind an assassination attempt that wounded him.

He was

banned from running

in the February election due to a graft conviction.

Despite the setbacks, candidates loyal to PTI secured more seats than any other party, but were kept from power by the alliance pact. REUTERS, AFP