Bilawal warns PTI of last chance to ‘clarify itself a political party’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the opposition group, has been given one final opportunity to “clarify whether it wants to become a political party or not,” according to Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

He said that if the PTI is a political party, then it should first and foremost condemn the violence and arson attacks that were committed during the widespread protests that followed the arrest of party chairman Imran Khan. He made this statement during a joint session of parliament on Monday. On the chief justice’s or anyone else’s orders, he argued, “we will not negotiate with a’militant party’ unless it apologizes.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman’s comments come days after PTI supporters — enraged by the arrest of their chief in the Al-Qadir Trust case — attacked military installations and damaged both public and private properties in violence that lasted for days.

PTI protesters had attacked the Lahore Corps Commanders House and the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, besides damaging other properties, including Radio Pakistan’s Peshawar office.

The situation stabilised after the Supreme Court declared Khan’s arrest by Rangers personnel on the warrant of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) “illegal” and ordered his immediate release.

Subsequently, the PTI chief was granted protective bail by the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The verdicts have been strongly criticised by the ruling coalition, which has said the courts “favoured” Khan.

Referring to the violent incidents in his address today, Bilawal said that they had “proved PTI was a militant party”.