Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar said in a press conference on Monday that the Pakistani government is planning to ban former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Terheek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and press treason charges against Khan under Article 6 of the Pakistani Constitution.

Tarar said that there is credible evidence to ban PTI, taking into account the involvement of PTI in the May 9 riots, the “cypher” case and foreign funding. Article 17 of the Pakistani Constitution states that the government may refer a political party to the Supreme Court of Pakistan if it declares the political party is operating prejudicially to the sovereignty of Pakistan, and Section 212(3) of the Election Act 2017 stipulates that a political party may only be dissolved if the Supreme Court upholds the government’s declaration.

Tarar stated that the Pakistani government is pressing treason charges against Khan over his April 2022 order to dissolve the National Assembly. The court found that Khan broke the law in an attempt to prevent a no-confidence vote. Former PTI President Arif Alvi and former National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri are also charged with treason.

Khan’s adviser Zulfikar Bukhari said that the Pakistani government’s plan to ban PTI and charge Khan, Alvi and Suri with treason is similar to implementing soft martial law. Bukhari also stated that the government plans to ban PTI as PTI allegedly lobbied American politicians to support a Congress resolution against Pakistan’s elections, and asked the International Monetary Fund to audit political spending.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said that the government’s move to ban the PTI is “unconstitutional [and] must be withdrawn immediately.” The HRCP wrote:

Not only is this move in flagrant violation of party members’ right to association under Article 17 of the Constitution, but it is also an enormous blow to democratic norms, especially when the Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that the PTI is a political party … If pushed through, it will achieve nothing more than deeper polarization and the strong likelihood of political chaos and violence.

The announcement of the government’s plan on Monday follows the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s July 13 decision to overturn Khan and his wife’s conviction for violating the country’s marriage laws in 2018. Khan and his wife were previously sentenced on February 3 to seven years for violating the law by marrying before the passage of the prescribed three-month “iddah” period after Khan’s wife’s previous divorce. The couple made previous attempts to appeal the conviction, but these were rejected. 

In addition, Khan is reportedly implicated in more than 150 legal proceedings, facing accusations that span instigating violence during the nationwide unrest following his arrest in May 2023 to further charges of corruption.