Pakistan plans to ban the political party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is jailed after his arrest last year on charges of receiving illegal funds from abroad and participating in nationwide riots, the information minister said on July 15.
The decision is likely to deepen the political turmoil in the country that has been ongoing since Khan was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in 2022. Khan, the main rival of current prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, remains popular despite being convicted in a series of cases he says were politically motivated.
Information Minister Ataullah Talal said the government had “credible evidence” against Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which it has long accused of receiving funds from individuals and organisations abroad. Pakistani law does not allow political parties to receive such donations.
Tarar said the government could ban the party under Pakistan’s constitution but that the decision would have to wait for the Supreme Court’s approval.
Khan’s party has accused Sharif’s coalition government of panicking following a series of court decisions that dismissed many of the cases against the former prime minister.
The July 15 announcement came two days after a court overturned the guilty verdicts and seven-year sentences given to Khan and his wife. Khan’s supporters had hoped he would be released after serving about a year of his sentence, but government authorities immediately re-arrested him on charges related to last year’s riots.
The acquittal of Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, concerned the legality of their 2018 marriage. Bibi was previously married to a man she claims to have divorced in November 2017, three months before she married Khan. Under Islamic law, there is a three-month waiting period before remarrying.
Bibi said she divorced in August 2017 and argued the couple had not violated the waiting period.
Khan has been involved in more than 150 cases since he was defeated in a no-confidence motion in 2022. He was arrested in May 2023 and violent protests by angry supporters erupted, mainly attacking military installations. Khan blames his removal on the United States and the powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan for half of its history since independence from British colonial rule in 1947.
The United States, Sharif and the military have denied Khan’s allegations.
The violence last year only subsided after the Supreme Court ordered Khan’s release, but he was arrested again in early August 2023 after a court sentenced him to three years in prison on corruption charges.
Khan had been acquitted in recent months in several cases linked to last year’s violence, but his bail was revoked this week in connection with a pending case in the eastern city of Lahore.
On July 12, the Supreme Court ruled that Khan’s party had been unfairly denied at least 20 seats in parliament, dealing a major blow to the country’s fragile ruling coalition.
Khan’s party had previously been excluded from a system that gives parties extra seats in the lower house of the parliament for women and minorities.
Talal also accused the US of trying to damage diplomatic ties with Pakistan, alleging that Khan’s ouster from office on July 15 was a US-led plot carried out by the military and his rival Sharif, who took office after claiming that February 8 elections were rigged.
The news was reported by the Associated Press.
