Coalition to get tough on PTI.

ISLAMABAD -- The ruling coalition on Monday hinted at banning the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), as the government claimed the party had become a terrorist outfit after its involvement in attacking state institutions, including the army, the judiciary, and law-enforcement agencies.

The coalition government condemned the attacks carried out allegedly on the orders of PTI Chairman Imran Khan on police and Rangers, who were implementing court orders when they went to his Zaman Park residence in Lahore and when Imran came along with his supporters to a court in Islamabad the other day.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led ruling alliance held a six-hour-long huddle with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair. The meeting was attended by leaders of the coalition parties and federal ministers.

An official statement issued following the meeting stated that a joint session of parliament had been called on March 22 (tomorrow) for taking important decisions to ensure the writ of the state.

The meeting also strongly condemned a social media campaign being run from abroad against the state institutions, especially against Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Asim Munir, and asked the overseas Pakistanis not to be a part of this 'sinister agenda'.

The condemnation come hours after Prime Minister Shehbaz, in a tweet, accused Imran of 'damaging the country and undermining our armed forces and their leadership' and stressed the need for rejecting his political rival's 'agenda'.

Shehbaz stressed that the 'overseas patriotic Pakistanis should raise their voice against the foreign-funded campaign,' and cautioned them against the 'poisonous politics' in which they were being used as pawns.

'PTI's disgusting smear campaign against Chief of the Army Staff General Asim Munir at the behest of Imran Niazi is deserving of the strongest condemnation,' Shehbaz tweeted.

The meeting decided that legal action would be taken against those running a dirty campaign from abroad against the martyrs of Lasbela last August. They said that this behaviour was unacceptable in any society and 'this is not freedom of speech'.

The alliance leaders expressed concerns over the treatment meted out to the PTI chairman by the courts, saying: 'The treatment of Imran Khan and his colleagues is deepening the impression that the scales of justice are not equal'. The official statement declared that 'two standards of justice in one country are not acceptable'.

Also, the prime minister...