Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf is finding itself in deep waters as the federal government has announced that it is deliberating a ban on the party after the May 9 violence across the country. The announcement comes amid a series of exits by several party leaders in the last few days after feeling the heat of legal processes in the aftermath of the May 9 arson incident.
Defence minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday said that the incumbent government is mulling a possible ban on PTI in light of the May 9 protests against party chairman Imran Khan's arrest in the Al Qadir Trust graft case, reported Pakistan's Geo News.
He, however, said that the matter will be referred to the Parliament for approval if the government finally decides to ban the former ruling party.
Khan’s supporters went on a rampage across Pakistan after his arrest by the National Accountability Bureau in the Al Qadir Trust graft case on May 9. Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were alleged that they obtained billions of rupees from a real estate firm for legalising Rs 50 billion.
Following his arrest by the paramilitary Rangers from the Islamabad High Court, his supporters took to the roads and set fire to the house of an army corps commander in Lahore and stormed the army general headquarters in Rawalpindi.
The party suffered its first major blow on Tuesday after Khan’s close aide and former human rights minister Shireen Mazari announced her resignation from the party and her decision to quit “active politics” altogether. The 72-year-old politician, who condemned the actions of Khan’s supporters who attacked and torched sensitive defence installations across Pakistan on May 9, cited “personal reasons” for her retirement.
With Mazari’s resignation, the total number of PTI leaders that have left the party till now has reached to 24, as per a report by The Express Tribune.