KARACHI: Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Thursday he was “principally” opposed to banning political parties and such a drastic step should only be used as a last resort against ex-prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
The minister issued the statement against the backdrop of violent demonstrations that erupted across the country following Khan’s arrest from the Islamabad High Court in a graft case on Tuesday. He is currently on physical remand of the National Accountability Bureau which is investigating him for allegedly receiving land as a bribe from a major property tycoon.
Meanwhile, Khan’s supporters have reacted to his arrest by storming sensitive army buildings and setting public property on fire, including military and government buildings, leading the army to put out a strongly worded statement on Wednesday that “facilitators, planners, and political activists” behind organized attacks on its properties and installations would be punished. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also promised to punish all miscreants “as per the law and constitution.”
In the backdrop of the army and PM’s strongly-worded statements, many analysts have conjectured whether the destruction wrought by the protesters, which military and political leaders say was directly instigated by the PTI, will be used as a pretext to ban the party.
“I am principally against imposing a ban on any political party and would be the last person to condone such a move,” the foreign minister said in a news conference on Thursday.
“If another party had engaged in terrorist activities that we saw yesterday, they would have been pushed towards [a ban], but we cannot make such a decision on TV screens on the basis of the videos [of violent protests] that we saw.”
Bhutto-Zardari said if a ban had to be eventually imposed on the PTI, then it should be done as a "last resort."
“An impartial process has to be in place for such a decision [to be taken],” he said.
“The only advice I can give to the PTI is what’s done is done, and those who were involved in [violence] have to be made answerable, but the party should not make matters worse,” he added.
“Call an end to the violent protests, declare that you would abide by the rule of law and constitution, and accept that you would engage the [anti-graft] National Accountability Bureau as citizens and not as terrorists.”
