No proposal to ban PTI under consideration: Interim interior minister

Interim Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said on Tuesday that there was no proposal under consideration to ban Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) while denying reports of Imran Khan’s mistreatment in jail, Aaj News reported.

Speaking to Munizae Jahangir in ‘Spotlight,’ Bugti said that the PTI chief was facing trial, so the matter was completely up to the courts.

The minister explained that there had been no discussion over any ban on PTI so far.

“However, the state is collecting evidence against any incidents that had flouted the law.”

Without singling out the May 9 riots, Bugti said that the state was operating as per its mechanism.

The interior minister also confirmed that Imran Khan had not yet been arrested in the cipher case.

“The PTI chief is currently only under arrest in the Toshakhana case,” he added.

Regarding the report of mistreatment with former PM Imran in jail, Bugti said that the previous government had decided to send him to Attock based on his security.

“The Punjab government has submitted a report saying that Imran has been given all facilities possible under jail laws, including books, and a bed, while a washroom was under construction in his cell.

He said the Punjab government had denied the camera over Imran’s cell. He said that the camera was covering the corridor but not the washroom.

Bugti added that Imran Khan regularly met his lawyers and that the matter was a “petty issue.” However, he said that rules could be subjected to particular security concerns.

He also denied that people with PTI flags were arrested on August 14. He added that he had seen people roaming around with the flags.

Regarding evidence for the events of May 9, Bugti said that it was not the right platform for the details of the conspiracy to be revealed.

Bugti added that President Arfi Alvi’s revelations could be a personal crisis but did not amount to a constitutional crisis. He said it was unclear if the president did so out of negligence or political concerns, but he had not used the right platform.

He added that he had not considered ordering any inquiry into the matter yet but that the government had the tools to do it.

Regarding elections within the stipulated time, the minister said that the ECP would decide the election date and that the interim government was only supposed to assist it.

“Even in the Senate election, the matter of elections is purely with the ECP. The deadline is 90 days which has already been passed,” he said, adding that the delay was due to the need for new delimitations.

Bugti said that the Council of Common Interests (CCI) had given priority to the delimitations instead of elections. He added that the consensus could not be developed because the government in place was a “selected” one.