From martial law to democracy: Pakistan’s long history of banning political parties
The federal government on Monday revealed its plans to ban former prime minister Imran Khan’s PTI — which was about to become the single largest party in the National Assembly following the apex court’s ruling in the reserved seats case.
The announcement triggered a discussion on television and social media, with the majority of pundits slamming the decision, calling it “desperate and ridiculous” while many others wondering if the government could even do that.
According to analysts, the final decision to ban a political party rests with the Supreme Court, as per Article 17(2) of the Constitution.
However, banning political groups is not a new practice in Pakistan. It has followed the country across decades — from martial laws to seemingly democratic setups.
Here, Dawn.com takes a look at Pakistan’s outlawed political parties.
Communist Party of Pakistan
The first communist party of Pakistan was actually formed in India’s Kolkata and then shifted to this side of the border.
Led by Marxist intellectual Sajjad Zaheer, the group organised its wings in both East and West Pakistan. It also forged links with labour leaders and trade unionists and gave shape to the Democratic Students Federation (DSF).
In July 1954, the party was banned over charges of attempting to overthrow the government of Liaquat Ali Khan. It was said that the CPP tried to hasten the revolutionary process in Pakistan by unwittingly getting involved in the ambitious plan of a military coup by Major General Akbar Khan.
A crackdown soon followed with Maj Gen Akbar, his wife, poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Zaheer and several other party members being sent to jail.
The remaining leadership went underground and used its student wing, the DSF, as a front organisation. In 1954, the DSF too was banned.
Awami League
The roots of the Awami League trace back to the All India Muslim League. Muslim Bengalis in East Pakistan had supported the latter’s call for a separate state even before Punjab and present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
However, the years that followed saw the Bengali leadership break away from the AIML and form the Awami Muslim League. During the 1954 elections, the party came together with other left-wing groups to form the United Front, which swept the polls.
Eventually, under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, the party evolved into the leading Bengali nationalist party, the Awami League, and gained immense popularity.
During the 1970 elections, the Awami League swept all the East Bengal seats save two. But the elected assembly did not meet as talks between Mujib and Bhutto stalled. In March 1971, the Awami League was banned and 76 of its 160 elected members were disqualified for being traitors. In a broadcast to the nation, President Yahya Khan said: “As for the Awami League, it is completely banned as a political party.”
The protests and military action that followed ultimately led to the splitting of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh.
National Awami Party
The National Awami Party (NAP) was Pakistan’s first major leftist political group. Formed in 1957, it housed Pashtun, Baloch, Sindhi and Bengali nationalist intellectuals and was later joined by several intellectuals, including popular Urdu poet and activist Habib Jalib.
Among its members were also activists who were once associated with the Communist Party of Pakistan which was banned in 1951. The NAP called itself a socialist-democratic party whose main aim was to enable people from marginalised classes to raise their voices against exploitation at the hands of feudal lords.
The party was poised to bag a majority of seats during Pakistan’s first-ever direct election. However, these polls were never held as General Ayub Khan imposed martial law in 1958 and banned all political parties. Consequently, most of the NAP leaders were arrested.
They were released after the said ban was lifted and the new constitution was authored in 1962. When the party returned, it demanded direct elections and an independent foreign policy in the Cold War. However, cracks started appearing within the party soon, splitting it into pro-China (led by Maulana Bhashani) and pro-Soviet factions (led by Wali Khan).
The split finally came forth in 1967 — the year the PPP was formed — with the NAP-Wali emerging as the bigger faction and eventually winning the largest number of seats in Balochistan during the 1970 elections. Three years later, the Bhutto regime accused the NAP government of backing Baloch separatists.
In 1975, the Bhutto regime accused the NAP of PPP leader Hayyat Sherpao’s killing and banned the party under Section 4 of the Political Parties Act of 1962, endorsed in the 1973 Constitution. A reference against the party was also sent to the Supreme Court the same year to designate the party as anti-state. On Oct 30, 1975, the Supreme Court upheld the government’s ban, saying that the party was indeed working for an independent Pakhtunistan and Greater Balochistan.
Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz-Aresar
Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz-Aresar (JSQM-A) was founded in 1995 by Abdul Wahid Aresar as one of the various factions of Jeay Sindh Tehreek (JST), a self-proclaimed “non-violent movement” established by Ghulam Murtaza Syed. After Syed’s death, who initiated the Sindhi secessionist movement in 1972, the JST split into multiple factions.
Like its predecessor, JSQM-A advocated for the creation of Sindhudesh, a concept supported by some Sindhi nationalist parties in Pakistan for a separate Sindhi state.
The party quickly gained support among the youth in Sindh universities.
However, by 2017, the state launched a crackdown against them. In an appeal to the Asian Human Rights Commission, the party listed 18 workers they claimed had forcibly disappeared and alleged that some relatives were threatened to prevent them from filing cases.
Amidst the crackdown, by 2019, several JSQM-A leaders announced in news conferences their intention to join mainstream politics and vowed to lead their lives as patriotic citizens.
On May 7, 2020, the party was banned through a notification from the Interior Ministry. The government claimed that the party’s banner was being used by the Sindhu Desh Revolution Army (SRA) and Sindhu Desh Liberation Army (SLA), militant outfits carrying out attacks on law enforcement personnel, railway tracks, gas pipelines, and electricity pylons, as well as ethnic-targeted killings.
Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies alleged that these banned groups were linked with other proscribed separatist outfits, including the Baloch Liberation Army and the Baloch Liberation Front, operating in Balochistan.
However, JSQM-A and rights groups argued that the political party was unjustly linked to the Sindhi militant outfits and banned. “Our party opposes outsiders’ control over the province’s natural resources through non-violent and political struggle,” said Aslam Khairpuri, the JSQM-A head.
Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan
In 2015, the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) emerged in response to widespread protests against the execution of Mumtaz Qadri, an elite force commando convicted of assassinating former Punjab governor Salman Taseer.
Initially perceived as a marginal political entity, the 2018 elections revealed an unexpected reality. The party secured the third-largest vote bank among the 14 National Assembly seats in Lahore, trailing only PML-N and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). Nationally, it garnered 2.19 million votes.
On April 15, 2021, the Punjab government banned TLP following violent protests that resulted in the deaths of several policemen. The provincial government requested the ban, which the federal cabinet approved, enforcing it under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.
On April 29, 2021, TLP filed a review petition to lift the ban. Despite this, the party remained eligible to participate in elections, as it was not delisted by the ECP.
In October 2021, TLP organized additional protests, leading the government to agree to lift the ban on November 7. Over a week later, they released the party’s detained chief, Saad Rizvi.
In 2024, the party chief contested the elections, however the results showed that the party’s support has eroded. Speaking to his supporters in a rally in Lahore, Rizvi said that the enemies of Islam had stopped his party.
However, analysts say that it is because the younger Rizvi does not have the kind of leadership and charisma his father, Khadim Rizvi did.