(Bloomberg) -- Pakistan’s government will move a petition to the top court for an order to ban jailed leader Imran Khan’s political party, as the former premier got a major boost from the court in the past few days.
The cabinet of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a Khan’s bitter rival, will approve the decision before the government asks the Supreme Court to ban Tehreek-e-Insaf, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar says in a televised news conference in Islamabad on Monday.
The move comes days after Khan and his party got a major boost from the country’s courts. Khan’s party was awarded about two dozen reserved seats in the National Assembly, or parliament’s lower house, by the Supreme Court last week. Over the weekend, Khan’s final jail sentence was overturned by a lower court that set him free. But he was kept in jail after the government arrested him in other cases.
“This is a sign of panic,” Sayed Zulfi Bukhari, a spokesperson for Khan’s party, said in a statement. The government “has realized the courts can’t be threatened and put under pressure.”
The government will seek a trial of Khan and his loyalist former president of Pakistan, Arif Alvi, for alleged treason, Tarar said. The former president and others violated the country’s constitution by illegally dissolving the lower house in 2022, days before Khan was removed from power through a parliamentary vote of confidence, he said.
Khan’s party will be banned under Article 17 of the constitution for a series of anti-state activities including seeking funds from overseas prohibited groups, attempting to sabotage the nation’s last deal with the International Monetary Fund, attacking the properties of the armed forces, leaking secret diplomatic documents and providing safe havens to the Taliban militants during Khan’s time in office.
Sharif’s government has said in past that it will ban Khan’s political party but no final decision was taken.
(Updates with details of allegations, party reaction)
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