Gloves come off as govt loses patience with PTI

• Minister unveils plans to ban Imran Khan’s party
• Tarar refers to prohibited funding and cipher cases, May 9 events, US House resolution to justify move
• Says Imran, Alvi, Suri, and others to face treason charges for ‘circumventing’ no-trust vote in 2022

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Mon­day decided to ban the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) — a former ruling party which remained in power in the Centre from 2018 to 2022 — for its alleged affinity to the ‘anti-state’ elements while also working out a reference to try the top brass, including its founder Imran Khan, for high treason under Article 6.

Besides these two decisions, the government led by the PML-N will also file a review petition in the Supreme Court in the reserved seats case which was decided by the full court in the favour of the PTI last week. The government will also take action against “a handful of overseas Pakistanis for anti-state activities”.

These decisions were announced by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar at a press conference on Monday, which also featured audio and video clips, showing PTI’s alleged involvement in ‘anti-state’ activities.

“This is a fact and on the record that the PTI has been involved in anti-state activities and to this end, the government and its allies have decided to initiate legal proceedings to ban the PTI under Article 17 of the Constitution, which empowers the federal government to ban any such party,” said the information minister.

In a bid to justify the ban, the minister alleged the PTI obtained funds to target state institutions on May 9, attempted to sabotage Pakistan’s negotiations with the Interna­tional Monetary Fund (IMF), resettled militants in the country, and hired a lobbying firm to get a resolution passed in the US House of Representatives against Pakistan.

The minister said that in light of the cipher episode and the US resolution, the federal government believed there was “very credible evidence” present to have the PTI banned.

In allusion to a plan to resettle the TTP militants during the PTI government, the minister claimed that the PTI was giving shelter to militants on the one hand and attacking the army on the other.

Speaking about the prohibited funding case aga­inst the PTI, the minister alleged the former ruling party used prohibited fun­ding to hire lobbying firms that worked to damage the integrity of the country. He claimed the Election Commission of Pakistan had given a verdict that the PTI had received prohibited funding, while also recalling how the PTI government used delaying tactics to prevent proceedings in the case during its tenure. He claimed it was on record that the PTI failed to justify and defend the funding allegedly received from Israeli and Indian-origin overseas persons.

The minister also referred to the controversial cipher, which was used by Imran Khan to “mislead the nation”.

“Even Ambassador Asad Majeed, the author of the cipher, said there was no threat to the country in the cipher, but the PTI leadership was hell-bent upon damaging the diplomatic relations of Pakistan,” he said. Mr Tarar said the former finance minister, Shaukat Tareen, reportedly told the then provincial finance ministers to write a letter to sabotage a deal between the government and the IMF.

Speaking about the May 9 violence, Mr Tarar said the entire family of the PTI founder was involved in the May 9 attacks, as three of his sisters were allegedly found outside the corps commander’s house in Lahore and his nephew was allegedly seen defiling the official uniforms. The workers were ordered to reach designated points for creating chaos, he said, adding the video and audio evidence were available to the government. “We have irrefutable evidence and strong grounds to ban the party,” he noted.

Article 6 proceedings

The presser also brought up the attempt to circumvent a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan in April 2022. At the time of the no-trust move, the PTI government chose to disband the National Assembly instead of taking the no-confidence vote. In light of that action, the minister said the ruling alliance had also decided to move a reference against the former premier, then-president Arif Alvi and then National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri. He said that this reference under Article 6 would be sent to the Supreme Court after the cabinet’s approval.

About the anti-state campaigns and conspiracies from abroad, he said a handful of overseas Pakistanis who collected funds to weaken Pakistan, did not represent the majority who had been contributing to the national economy by sending massive remittances. A resolution would be passed in the house to take action against such elements, he added.

The minister also criticised the reserved seats ruling and said the judgement created an impression that the relief given to the PTI was “uncalled for”.

“The PTI was not a party to the case, nor their members claimed to be members of the PTI; all of them joined the Sunni Itehad Council and submitted their affidavits,” he said while asserting that the Sunni Ittehad Council did not allow non-Muslim to be the members of the party which technically deprived the party of its minority seats.

“Keeping in view the legal loophole in this judgement, the government and its allies have decided to file a review petition,” he said.

“Whatever happens whether they hold (intra) party elections or not, or there is an Iddat case or any other thing such as the case of £190 million…the impression is that they are untouchables,” he added. “I want to respond to them in clear and unambiguous words: ‘no more’,” the minister said while ruling out any sort of progress of the country in the presence of the PTI.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2024