The Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said that the government is thinking of banning Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf for attacking army installations on 9th May, after the arrest of its head Imran Khan. During an interview to media, he said that though the final decision has not been taken so far in this regard, the suggestion to ban PTI is under consideration but the government would send the proposal to the parliament before reaching any verdict.
Banning the opponent political party on the plea that it attacked on the military installations, will not be a prudent decision at all especially in the current era where social media is so active that not even a tiny matter could be hidden from the eyes of the public.
While in response the PTI’s Senator, Barrister Ali Zafar said that in case the party would be banned, they will knock the doors of the Supreme Court against the decision of the government.
The government has not sufficient proof that the attackers were the workers of PTI or they belonged to some other terrorist’s outfit who took advantage of the protest and entered in the rank and files of the protestors in disguise of PTI’s supporters.
The top leadership of PTI is also claiming repeatedly that it was the conspiracy against the party that some elements sent miscreants to the protest who played havoc at important defense installations including General Headquarters, official residence of Corps Commander Lahore and the monuments of the martyrs.
The government should adopt a sensible and practical course of action to deal with the matter. The ruling alliance PDM should remember one thing very clearly that it consists of political parties and it is the time to take decisions politically, because the political decisions should be taken in a political way and any undemocratic means should not be adopted.
If PTI is banned, then its outcome would be very destructive. The people in power should realize that the PTI has a very large following and almost half of the papulation supports Imran Khan. Eventually the sentiments of hate will be raised in their minds and the politics which is now based on abhorrence against each other which would be more deepened if any erroneous decision would take place.
If the door of putting a ban on the government is closed then it must remain closed forever as once this would be opened, then a non-stoppable tornado would enter the country, that would not only spoil everything but would be dangerous for the country. Those who are sitting on treasury benches should recognize the fact that they would be in opposition tomorrow and it is very much possible that they might be faced with the same situation as the PTI is going through nowadays.
Even the dictators in the past could not put ban on the political parties despite their keen urge to do so and if during the tenure of a political government such a negative approach would emanate, then it will also bring bad name for the sitting rulers and they would not save themselves from this stigma for a long time in the time to come too because if the government would take any wrong step, then it would turn into a big blunder in future in the name of current rulers.
In the far past some political parties were banned but it produced an inverse effect as the followers of these parties did not forget detestation feelings against the federation even after changing over the next generation. The country cannot afford any mishap so the people in power must consider reconciliation and if they think that they reached a point of no return, even then they should not go to that extent that history would not forgive them.