The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), one of the main allies in Pakistan’s ruling coalition, has rejected statements by some of its members opposing the government’s plan to ban the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as a political party, calling them “personal opinions.”
PPP Secretary General Nayyar Hussain Bokhari distanced the party from Farhatullah Babar’s remarks reported by an Islamabad-based publication, adding that the proposal to ban the PTI was not discussed at any level within the party.
“The country is deeply polarised, the economy is collapsing, socially and ethnically divided, the law and order situation is terrible, inflation is soaring, the population is exploding and there are no jobs. Yet those in power cannot think beyond the iddat scandal and allow the ISI to violate privacy and forcibly disappear our people. It’s a shame,” Babar said in his X post.
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He added, “Any talk of banning political parties or putting political leaders on trial for treason is nonsense. It is unsustainable. It will worsen the political crisis. American democracy will withstand the current crisis. I do not believe Pakistan’s democracy, or indeed the state itself, can withstand a crisis of its own making. Be vigilant.”
Leaders of political parties including Awami National Party, Jamiat Ulama-e-Islami, Jamaat-e-Islami and PPP on Tuesday criticised the proposal to ban the party.
The move comes as the ruling party feels “embarrassed” after the Supreme Court ruling reserved seats for it, giving it a two-thirds majority in Parliament, news agency PTI told a news conference.
Party leader Omar Ayub Khan, supported by party leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and other party leaders, said the government was trying to intimidate Pakistan’s 240 million people with tactics like intimidation, coercion and harassment and vowed that the PTI would not be scared.
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