Web Report | 9 October 2024
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi while addressing a press conference in Islamabad on October 9, 2024 said that the government will not allow any parallel judicial system in the country. He expressed grave concern over the Pashtun National Jirga organized by the banned Pashtun Protection Movement (PTM).
The interior minister warned that anyone found involved in helping a banned organization would be dealt with severely. He said, “We will never allow a parallel judicial system in the country”.
This statement came after the Shehbaz Sharif-led government recently banned the PTM led by Muntoor Pashteen, citing the organization as a threat to peace and security.
According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, “The Federal Government has reasons to believe that PTM is involved in activities against peace and security… therefore the organization has been booked under Section 11 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.” has been included in the list of prohibited organizations under B.”
Before the ban, PTM had announced a three-day Pashtun Qaumi Jirga from October 11 in Khyber district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. At the press conference, the Home Minister said that the government has no objection to holding a jirga, but “bringing thousands of people is not called a jirga”.
He said that on one hand, PTM is calling this gathering as Jirga and on the other hand, it is being presented as a court. The home minister warned that the government would not allow any parallel judicial system.
Naqvi clarified that PTM has been banned for spreading a narrative against state institutions and the government. “Nobody has any objection to speaking up for rights, but efforts to incite hatred and racial division will not be tolerated”.
The home minister said he was aware that leaders of some major political parties had met PTM leaders and expressed solidarity on the issue of rights, but he clarified that talking about rights meant advocating for arms. Not possible.
Naqvi assured that the federal government is also ready to discuss human rights issues.
After the ban, he said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan governments have added 54 and 34 PTM members to the Fourth Schedule respectively. When an organization is banned, its offices are sealed, bank accounts are frozen, arms licenses, passports and identity cards are revoked, and media and travel restrictions are imposed, he said. are imposed.
The interior minister also made it clear that facilitators and aides of proscribed organizations will also face the same sanctions as per the law.
