A high court in Pakistan allowed former prime minister Imran Khan's party Tuesday to use its iconic cricket bat logo as an election symbol, a crucial legal victory for the jailed leader ahead of national polls in February.
Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, was stripped of the symbol by the Election Commission of Pakistan, or ECP, citing irregularities in the party's internal elections. PTI leaders rejected the decision as illegal and a "shameful attempt" to stop the country's largest political force from contesting elections.
"Today, the election commission's decision against PTI, in which its election symbol, the cricket bat, was unjustly revoked through an illegal and unconstitutional order, has been suspended," PTI lawyer Syed Ali Zafar told reporters outside the court in the northwestern city of Peshawar, where the party filed its appeal.
The court directed the electoral watchdog, in its ruling, to reinstate PTI's cricket bat symbol "keeping in view the urgency that a political party has been denuded of its symbol, meaning hereby that aspirants from the general public who were willing to vote for the petitioners' party were divested of their right to vote as per their choice."
Election symbols are essential campaign tools for identifying candidates on ballot papers in Pakistan, a country with a population of about 241 million people and an adult literacy rate of about 60%.
PTI has increasingly complained of a government crackdown on its candidates and campaign meetings, saying the unlawful attempt to deprive it of its traditional bat symbol was also part of efforts to keep Khan and his party from the upcoming elections.
According to public opinion polls, the incarcerated Khan is the most popular political figure in Pakistan and his PTI is rated as the biggest national political party.
In a Tuesday editorial, the English-language Dawn newspaper raised questions about the legitimacy of the elections in the wake of the crackdown on Khan supporters and attempts to exclude his party from the electoral exercise.
"The state's attempts to cancel the PTI must cease, and all parties need to have a level playing field during elections. Let the people of Pakistan decide who is to steer the ship of state for the next five years. Political maneuvering has never worked, and will only exacerbate our multiple crises," the paper wrote.
Khan, 71, was removed from office last year through a parliamentary vote of no-confidence, which he said was orchestrated by the powerful Pakistani military under pressure from the United States, charges Washington and Islamabad deny.
Since his ousting, the cricket hero-turned-prime minister has faced dozens of lawsuits filed by authorities, which he claims to be a ploy by the military to prevent his comeback to power because of his advocacy for an independent foreign policy for Pakistan, one free from the influence of the United States.
In early August, Khan was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to three years in prison. He denies the charges. Although a higher court later suspended his sentence and ordered his release on bail, Pakistani authorities have refused, citing other lawsuits against him.
Khan is also being tried by a special court behind closed doors on allegations he disclosed classified state information to the public while in office. He denies any wrongdoing.
The military has staged several coups against elected governments since Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947, leading to more than three decades of military rule. The interventions have encouraged generals to meddle in national politics even when not in power, prompting sustained criticism of the security institution in recent years.
In November 2022, the then-army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, admitted in a nationally televised speech just days before he retired that decades of meddling in politics had exposed the military to criticism.
