Category: Politics

The government is as determined as ever to ban opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after party founder Imran Khan told journalists in Adiala Jail that he called for protests outside GHQ, Rawalpindi.

The government is interpreting Khan’s statement as an admission of guilt, while PTI leaders have been claiming that Khan meant a “peaceful protest.”

Federal Minister of Information Atta Tarar said, “We have principally decided to ban PTI but are waiting for a broader consensus to impose the ban.”

Earlier, when the government announced its decision to ban PTI, the ruling government’s ally party, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), distanced itself from the decision as it wasn’t consulted.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders held a hunger strike outside the Parliament House on Tuesday, in symbolic opposition to founder PTI Imran Khan’s and party workers’ incarceration on Tuesday.

The strike was led by PTI’s Secretary General Omar Ayub, along with PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan and other senior members.

The symbolic hunger strike is scheduled from 3 PM to 7 PM.

Meanwhile, the Sunni Ittehad Council has also decided to establish a hunger strike camp in Punjab, following the PTI’s example in the federal capital, on July 24 outside the Punjab Assembly from 3 PM to 7 PM.

Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly, Malik Ahmad Bachhar, said that the decision to initiate the hunger strike was taken under the directive of Imran Khan.

Founder Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has hit out at the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Qazi Faez Isa, for what he called ‘being in a hurry’ to fix the review of a judgement regarding reserved seats, emphasising that the PTI’s petition against human rights violations had been pending for months.

Khan talked with journalists in Adiala jail, expressing concerns that the CJP should rescue himself from all PTI-related petitions due to an alleged conflict of interest arising from CJP’s wife’s statements against the PTI leadership.

The former Prime Minister stated that the PTI workers are being tried in military courts and feared that he might also face the same situation concerning the May 9 cases.

As rumours abound in the country’s political sphere that there might be a technocratic set-up in the new future, however, Khan dismissed the idea, stressing that it would be better to impose a ‘martial law’ once and for all.

The former premier said that those who think a technocrat set-up would bring Pakistan out of the crisis “live in a fool’s paradise.”

Senator Faisal Vawda has alleged that former Prime Minister Imran Khan, citing evidence provided by former director general Inter-Services Intelligence Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed, was responsible for creating political instability due to his direct involvement in the May 9 violence last year, Express Tribune reported.

“Some time ago, I revealed that Imran Khan’s close associate, Faiz Hameed, provided evidence of Khan’s involvement in the May 9 vandalism,” stated Vawda.

He further said, “This was not Faiz Hameed’s suggestion; however, Imran Khan was part of the entire scheme.”

The senator clarified that the government doesn’t face any threats from a technocrat government or martial law but rather from the ongoing power struggle within the PML-N.

He opined that the government should renegotiate electricity agreements with IPPs, saying, “These political parties were responsible for the agreements that ensure payments to IPPs regardless of power supply. Such contracts involve kickbacks.”