Pakistan gov’t mulls ban on Imran Khan’s party
ISTANBUL (AA): The Pakistani government is mulling a ban on former Prime Minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the country’s defense minister has disclosed.
Khawaja Asif told reporters in the capital Islamabad: “A decision has not been taken yet, but a review is surely underway,” according to the Dawn newspaper.
The development comes as the coalition of 13 parties and the military launched a crackdown on the PTI after violence erupted on May 9 following Khan’s arrest in a corruption case.
“There is a lot of evidence and their people are telling themselves that they were briefed about this beforehand,” Asif said. “I feel that his struggle of a year … all his plans failed and this was his last move against the (Pakistan) armed forces.”
After Khan’s arrest triggered mass demonstrations and violence, the government and the agencies went after the PTI leadership and members. The alleged perpetrators are being tried in military courts.
The PTI says its 7,000 members and supporters have been detained and are not being released despite court orders.
The latest crackdown invited sharp criticism from human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, which urged authorities to “end the crackdown on the political opposition in the country through mass arrests, arbitrary detention and charging people under vague anti-terrorism laws.”
Several PTI leaders left the party, which Khan dubbed as “forced divorces.”
‘Enforced disappearance’
Amid concerns over alleged pressure faced by the country’s media, the whereabouts of a senior journalist, Imran Riaz Khan, remain unknown since being arrested on May 11.
Calling for the journalist’s immediate recovery, Amnesty declared his case “an enforced disappearance.”
“Despite court orders, police have failed to produce him, and his fate and whereabouts remain unknown. On 22 May, the police told the Lahore High Court that there is no trace of him in any police department in the province.”
“Punishing dissenting voices using enforced disappearance has been a worrying trend in Pakistan for many years and must be ended,” the rights watchdog said.
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