'Attempt to sabotage IMF deal': Pakistan government to ban Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

NEW DELHI: Pakistan government has decided to ban the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), alleging that the former ruling party was involved in number of anti-state activities.
"The decisions were taken in light of the former ruling party's involvement in the May 9 events and the PTI's former or current leaders' attempts to sabotage Pakistan's deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)," Pakistan's information minister Attaullah Tarar said.
"We believe that there is credible evidence that PTI should be banned," he added, citing allegations against former PM Imran Khan including leaking state secrets and inciting riots.
According to the information minister, the matter of ban on Pakistan's biggest opposition party will be brought to cabinet and possibly to Supreme Court if needed.
Tarar also said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led government and its allies have decided to file a review appeal against the decision of the Supreme Court granting reserved seats to the PTI in the National Assembly. "The apex court gave relief to the PTI which had not even asked for it," the minister said.
Referring to the time when the then-government decided to dissolve the assemblies during the no-confidence motion against Khan in 2022, the minister said the ruling alliance has also decided to move a case against the then-prime minister, then-president Alvi and then National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri.
"Whether it was the foreign funding case, the riots of May 9, or the manipulation of the cipher saga, in which the former Pakistani ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed - who authored the cipher - clarified that there was "no threat", the PTI continued decrying that the country was in danger.
Meanwhile, Khan has been jailed for nearly a year in a series of cases which he claimed were orchestrated to prevent his return to power in February elections.
The Supreme Court, however, granted the PTI more seats in parliament in a landmark ruling last week, while Khan's illegal marriage conviction was overturned on Saturday.