ISLAMABAD: Pakistan plans to ban former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, the information minister said on Monday.
The decision was based on a number of factors, including the proven charge that Khan’s PTI had received foreign funds from sources that are illegal in Pakistan, as well as rioting by the party’s leadership and supporters last year that targeted military installations, Minister Attaullah Tarar said.
“The federal government will move a case to ban the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf,” Tarar said, saying the matter would go to cabinet and the Supreme Court if needed.
PTI candidates contested the Feb. 8 election as independents after it was barred from the polls.
The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the party was eligible for more than 20 extra reserved seats in parliament, ramping up pressure on the country’s weak coalition government.
It was not immediately clear what impact the planned ban would have on the court’s decision to grant reserved seats.
Tarar said the government would also seek legal review of the reserved seats issue.
Jailed since August, Khan was on Saturday acquitted, along with his third wife, on charges that they married unlawfully but he will not be freed after authorities issued new orders to arrest him.
Khan came to power in 2018 and was ousted in 2022 after falling out with Pakistan’s powerful military.
Pakistan to ban Imran Khan’s party, information minister says
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Pakistan to ban Imran Khan’s party, information minister says
- Decision based on a number of factors, including the proven charge that Khan’s PTI had received foreign funds
- Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidates contested the Feb. 8 election as independents after it was barred from the polls
North Korean leader Kim watches cruise missile tests with his daughter
- KCNA said the missiles hit target islands off North Korea’s west coast
SEOUL, South Korea: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his teenage daughter observed tests of strategic cruise missiles fired from a warship, state media reported Wednesday, as North Korea threatened responses to US-South Korean military drills.
Images sent by the Korean Central News Agency showed the two in a conference room looking at a screen showing weapons being fired from the Choe Hyon, a year-old naval destroyer.
Kim Jong Un watched the missiles launches via video on Tuesday and underscored the need to maintain “a powerful and reliable nuclear war deterrent,” KCNA reported in a dispatch that did not mention his daughter.
The girl, reportedly named Kim Ju Ae and about 13, has accompanied her father at numerous prominent events including military parades and weapons launches since late 2022. South Korea’s spy agency assessed last month Kim Jong Un was close to designating her as his heir.
KCNA said the missiles hit target islands off North Korea’s west coast. It quoted Kim Jong Un as saying the launches were meant to demonstrate the navy’s strategic offensive posture and get troops familiarized with weapons firings.
Kim Jong Un observed similar cruise missile launches from the Choe Hyon in person last week, but his daughter was not seen at that appearance.
Tuesday’s missile firings came after the start of the springtime US-South Korean military drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.
On Tuesday, Kim Jong Un’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, warned the drills reveal again the US and South Korea’s “inveterate repugnancy toward” North Korea. She said North Korea will “convince the enemies of our war deterrence.”
The 11-day Freedom Shield drill that began Monday is largely a computer-simulated command post exercise and will be accompanied by a field training program. North Korea often reacts to the two sets of training with its own weapons tests.
