ISLAMABAD: According to Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, the government is considering banning former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The move comes amid political unrest in the nuclear-armed country as a result of Imran’s arrest on corruption charges on May 9 and subsequent release on bail on court orders.

The embattled PTI chairperson, who claims corruption charges have been made up, is locked in a battle with the current government and state institutions.

“It is under consideration to ban PTI,” Asif told reporters. “The PTI has attacked the state’s very foundation, which has never happened before.” It will not be tolerated.”

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The arrest of Imran sparked deadly protests across the country, with army installations attacked and state buildings set ablaze.

Rioters are now being tried in military courts, while PTI leaders are being arrested and raided at their homes on a regular basis.

Furthermore, in a perplexing political environment marked by arrests, releases, and re-arrests, the PTI leaders appear to be caught in a revolving door as they continue to leave the party and politics, leaving people and pundits befuddled.

Their spirits appear to be broken by a never-ending cycle of arrests and re-arrests from prison gates. On Tuesday evening, it took five arrests for senior PTI leader Dr Shireen Mazari to abandon her tenacity and exit the political stage.

Former Punjab information minister Fayyazul Hasan Chohan, who announced his resignation from the PTI in an explosive news conference on the same day, was the other significant departure from the party.

“Our party has been facing a crackdown for about a year,” Imran said in an earlier interview with AFP.

“Through the ex-army chief’s conspiracy, I was removed from power.”

The former premier claimed that the subsequent violence was a “conspiracy” staged to justify his party’s repression.

As the unrest erupted, over 7,000 people were detained, and at least 19 senior PTI officials were arrested, some in overnight raids on their homes, on charges of inciting violence.

“This terrorism and mobbing was all pre-planned and this was done by Imran,” Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had rebutted.