In a rare display of unity, Pakistan’s leading newspapers have denounced the government’s decision to ban the political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. The decision, described by the major dailies as a “desperate” and “xenophobic political decision,” has sparked significant criticism and calls for revocation.
The Dawn, The Express Tribune and The News, major English-language dailies criticised the action of the government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for resorting to extreme measures to counter the Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party rather than using political means to tackle its rising power.
The editorials were also sceptical that the Supreme Court would endorse the government's decision.
The Pakistan government on Monday decided to ban PTI on charges of illegally receiving foreign funds, involvement in riots and its alleged involvement in “anti-state” activities. The government has also threatened to slap treason charges on 71-year-old Khan as well as on former president Arif Alvi, 74, among others.
The Dawn in its editorial ‘Banning PTI’ referred to the majority judgment on reserved seats when 11 out of 13 judges of the Supreme Court, including the chief justice, only last week recognised the PTI’s bona fides as a political party.
“It is dangerous for a government to appear so desperate. Like grains of sand, power slips quicker from the hand the tighter the fist is clenched. In their obsession with countering the resurgent PTI, the ruling parties are, wittingly or unwittingly, pushing the country towards even more chaos and anarchy instead of accepting ground realities and working around them,” the paper observed.
It opined that the government could be either afraid of losing its two-thirds majority which it had only been secured thanks to a series of unconstitutional and unlawful decisions taken by the Election Commission or feared the prospects of PTI becoming the largest party in the parliament after the Supreme Court judgment.
“If the government thought it was projecting power through Information Minister Atta Tarar’s Monday press conference, it was gravely mistaken. It only managed to appear desperate and intimidated, clutching at straws while the tide rises around it,” the paper wrote.
It further said that apparently the government and its backers within the establishment have still not realised that they are in uncharted territory, as previous regimes that ruled through political coercion and fear tactics had strong economies backing them.
“The conditions right now appear to be far from conducive for the type of brinkmanship and adventurism being displayed by the current regime. If the idea is to precipitate a collapse of the democratic political order, then, by all means, the authorities should proceed,” the editorial said.
The paper suggested a “hard course correction” on the part of the government while it urged the PTI to display some flexibility and greater maturity to deal with grave issues faced by the country.
The Express Tribune in its editorial ‘Vendetta in Desperation’ stated that the government is certainly ill-advised in moving ahead to ban a political party and try its top leaders for treason as “such berserk moves” fail.
“The surprise step is born out of political exigency, and taken under duress, to say the least,” it wrote, adding that the “xenophobic political decision” had been taken without consulting its allies, who are unlikely to support it.
The paper agreed that the decision was prompted by the Supreme Court verdict wherein the beleaguered PTI got a shot in the arm in terms of reserved seats, making it the single largest party in the parliament, had left the ruling dispensation with no political alternative but to strike back in vengeance.
The paper quoting some senior political leaders termed the decision as a non-starter due to the legal process and the weak charge sheet presented by the minister against the PTI.
“The PML-N needs some political orientation and should desist from cutting the branch of democracy with which it is hanging near the cliff. It should rather gear up for a political battle with the PTI on the floor of the house, and not through tools of extermination in the administrative milieu,” the paper concluded.
The News in its editorial ‘When all fails, ban them’ joined other newspapers to lambast the government.
“In what is being dubbed as a desperate move by legal and political experts — in fact, anyone with a sense of the political — the federal government has decided to spring yet more chaos on a people it seems to hardly care about, announcing its decision to ban the PTI as well as file references against PTI founder Imran Khan and former president Arif Alvi for treason under Article 6,” it observed.
The paper stated that the Supreme Court “will most likely not entertain this rather tragic display of desperation by the government days after the apex court had given the reserved seats verdict in favour of the PTI” and also ruled that the PTI was a parliamentary party.
“Apart from being an astoundingly terrible move politically, the attempt to ban a bonafide political party also goes against a document almost all our political parties seem to forget as soon as they come into power; the Constitution of Pakistan,” the paper stated.
The move to ban the PTI will also backfire and lead to even more polarisation in a country where there is hardly any economic stability, where terrorism is making a comeback and where there is shrinking space for fundamental freedoms, the paper wrote.
Khan and hundreds of his party colleagues are being tried under multiple cases, including one under the Official Secrets Act, in connection with the May 9 violent protests by his supporters that damaged key military installations across Pakistan last year. Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi is also in jail in connection with some alleged corruption cases.
PTI inputs