Pakistan govt. to consult legal team for declaring Imran Khan's party ‘proscribed’ outfit: Interior Minister Sanaullah

Leaders of the ruling alliance lashed out at Mr. Khan who travelled from Lahore to Islamabad on Saturday to mark his presence at a district court here, amidst mayhem and chaos, as his supporters clashed with police.

Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanuallah has said that the government plans to consult experts on initiating a process to declare Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party a “proscribed” outfit after police claimed to have seized weapons and petrol bombs from the former premier's residence in Lahore.

Leaders of the ruling alliance lashed out at Mr. Khan who travelled from Lahore to Islamabad on Saturday to mark his presence at a district court here, amidst mayhem and chaos, as his supporters clashed with police.

While Mr. Khan was in Islamabad, over 10,000 armed Punjab police personnel launched a major operation at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore and arrested dozens of his supporters and claimed to have seized weapons and petrol bombs.

Interior Minister Sanuallah said at a press conference on Saturday that the government would consult its legal team to assess whether a process could be initiated to declare the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party a proscribed group, Dawn newspaper reported.

“Terrorists were hiding in Zaman Park. Weapons, petrol bombs, etc have been recovered from the residence of Imran Khan which is enough evidence to file a case against the PTI for being a militant organisation,” Mr. Sanaullah said.

On the government’s plan to initiate the process to ban Khan’s party, the minister said: “Primarily it is a judicial process to declare any party proscribed. However, we will consult our legal team on the issue.”

Separately, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appeared to agree with the assertion by his niece PMN-L Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz that Khan’s party is a “militant organisation”.