Shadow of authoritarianism

July 18, 2024

ISLAMABAD – IT is a desperate move that may bring down the entire edifice. The plan to ban the most popular political party in the country is the most senseless, self-destructive action the government can take. It is nothing short of hara-kiri. Whether or not the decision is implemented, its very announcement has jolted the foundations of the existing political power structure. The ruling coalition is already in tatters.

It was quite a spectacle as a frothing, fumbling federal information minister announced the decision not only to ban the PTI, but also to start sedition proceedings against the party’s leader Imran Khan, and former president Arif Alvi. Frustration was palpable when he also vented his anger against the top judiciary, implying partisanship. He was all over the place.

The latest apex court ruling on the reserved seats in favour of the PTI seems to have rattled the ruling PML-N and the security establishment. The perceived pushback by the judges has come as a serious blow to the military-backed dispensation. Not only does the court order give the PTI its due share of reserved seats in the National Assembly, it also recognises it as a parliamentary party. The judges have tried to remedy some of the wrongs that had made the legitimacy of the Feb 8 election questionable.

With the redistribution of the reserved seats, the PTI will emerge as the single largest party in the Lower House. It may not affect the majority of the PML-N-led coalition government, but the loss of some two dozen reserved seats will end its two-thirds majority in both Houses, which is required to make amendments to the Constitution.

The majority decision by the full bench of the Supreme Court was a damning indictment of the