The PML(N) decision to ban the PTI and to prosecute its leaders for high treason seems to be running into trouble both within and outside the party, as political forces fear it might be going too far. Certainly, it now appears much, much easier said than done. The attitude of the PPP seems to be crucial, as it is not only the main ally of the PML(N), but also the only party which has banned another, though admittedly half a century and two martial laws ago. The importance of the matter should not be underestimated, as even though the Constitution itself goes into the matter in some detail, that was the only ban ever imposed, and even neither military government had not tried it.
While Farhatullah Babar came out in opposition to the ban, there was a quick riposte by Nayyar Bukhari, his successor as party information secretary that there had been no decision on the matter, which could only happen when the PML(N) raised it with either President Asif Zardari or party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar’s statement that the ban would only be imposed if the allies went along with the idea, should be seen as positioning the party to walk back on the decision, by saying that the allies had not agreed, and could also be seen as initiating a process of consultation. That process should have probably been initiated before it was announced unilaterally as a PML(N) decision.
Perhaps it would have been useful to have consulted the PPP, though at this distance, those PPP leaders who had even been born at the time, would have been striplings far removed from the corridors of power. President Zardari was barely of age himself, when the 1974 ban occurred. It did not end well, for while the National Awami Party was duly banned, a new Awami National Party was born from its ashes, after first the National Democratic Party was born. The ban, imposed after the assassination of NWFP Governor Aftab Sherpao, was upheld by the Supreme Court. It was a different era, when the Supreme Court was more respectful of the wishes of the government, and confirmed the ban on the NAP, but allowed the Hyderabad Tribunal to go ahead. It took the imposition of the Zia Martial Law for the Hyderabad Tribunal to be wound up. If the PTI is banned, and Imran tried for high treason, will the Supreme Court be so obliging this time?
