Karachi: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Thursday that he was not in favour of banning the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), even though the party has attacked state buildings. He also said that he would be the “last person” to support such a move.
At a news conference, the foreign minister said, “I am not in favour of banning anyone. We have to follow the law and the constitution to get rid of PTI.”
But he also said that making PTI a banned group was the last option.
When asked if he thought about banning PTI, the foreign minister said, “A decision can’t be made on TV based on the video evidence that’s been released so far.”
Bilawal also told angry PTI protesters to stop, saying that the party had done “what it had to do.”
He said that PTI shouldn’t make things worse. “They should stop protesting violently and face the charges against them,”
Bialwal also said that he wanted the situation to end in a way that would make the country’s politics more stable.
“Yet Another Bad Day”
Earlier in the conference, the PPP leader said that May 9, the day Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan taken from the Islamabad High Court (IHC), was “another Black Day” in the history of the country.
“In Pakistan’s history, there have been a number of “Black Days,” and May 9 has now added to the list.”
After Khan was caught, violent protests in Pakistan on Tuesday. Dozens of people hurt in several cities, and protesters attacked military buildings.
Even today, paramilitary troops and police are still on the streets of big cities. In Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, schools and offices closed, and mobile data services are still not working.
The cops in the capital city, Islamabad, said earlier today that troops have arrived.
Since Khan arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case, protesters have broken into military buildings, trashed the home of a top army general in Lahore, and set fire to state buildings and assets in other places.
“We [PPP] never celebrate when a political leader is arrested because we think that when a political leader is arrested, politics as a whole loses,” he said, repeating that the PPP has never given out sweets or celebrated when a political leader has been arrested.
‘PPP against NAB’
He also said that his party had always been “against” the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from the start, while PTI had always supported the anti-corruption body and benefited from it.
“Khan sb started a campaign to save NAB. When we asked for changes, he said we wanted NRO and didn’t agree with the proposed changes,” he said, adding that now that the new laws have been passed, the PTI chief is the one who benefits from them.
