Imran Khan’s dead ball before D-Day

PTI chairman Imran Khan addresses supporters in Islamabad on Tuesday. He has called off a mass protest aimed at shutting down the Capital and forcing the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. (Photo: AP)

Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Tuesday abruptly called off his plan to lockdown Islamabad as the Supreme Court paved the way for investigation into Panama Papers leaks against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family.

The Supreme Court began hearing a case into the Panama Papers Leaks and offered to form a commission to investigate revelations that Mr Sharif’s children had offshore accounts.

“We are determined to resolve this issue. We will solve it and we will solve it as soon as possible. Now, the highest forum in the country in regards to dispute resolution has taken up this matter, so now you hold your positions, please restrain,” Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, one of the five judges hearing the case told the court.

The ruling was applauded by Mr Khan, who held a news conference at his home on the outskirts of Islamabad to declare victory. “I am so happy that the Supreme Court has decided that from Thursday it will begin probing Nawaz Sharif,” he said, surrounded by ecstatic supporters.

He added that his supporters would instead hold a rally thanking the Supreme Court for its decision.

The move brought an anti-climactic end to what observers believed could have become a protracted confrontation similar to a four-month sit-in led by Khan in 2014.

But although Mr Khan had repeatedly vowed to bring a million protesters to the capital, disruption had been thus far limited to a few areas around the city and the Peshawar-Islamabad highway, where some 5,000 PTI supporters were blocked from entering the capital.

Mr Sharif has been under growing pressure from opposition parties, mainly Imran Khan’s PTI, which had vowed one million supporters would shut down Islamabad on Wednesday as part of long-running efforts to force the government out of power.

Police have repeatedly clashed with protesters in recent days, detaining more than 1,000 PTI supporters from across the country since last week after imposing a ban on all public gatherings in Islamabad, which was later partly lifted by a court order. Meanshile, maintaining that if asking for justice from the courts regarding a government crackdown on his party workers is tantamount to pressurising judiciary, Mr Khan on Tuesday asked, “Is asking for justice pressurising the courts ”

The Dawn quoted Khan as saying, “If we want to know from the courts [why] we are being baton-charged, roads are being blocked and women are being arrested... Is this pressurising the courts ”

He said that the issue will be raised in Supreme Court by the PTI leaders.

The PTI chief said, what crime they have committed that the PTI workers are being arrested.

Why was he put under house arrest Mr Khan also asked that under which law was the Pervez Khattak-led convoy of PTI protesters was stopped from reaching Islamabad.

He also questioned that under which law was the Pervez Khattak-led convoy of PTI protesters stopped from reaching Islamabad.

Meanwhile, Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Shaikh Rashid said on Tuesday that the PTI chairman should have joined his protest on October 28 in Rawalpindi.

He was talking to reporters outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad.

The PTI chief was scheduled to address supporters at an AML-organised meeting at Lal Haveli on Oct 28 but he cancelled the plan later on saying that his party is instead gearing up for the November 2 protest in Islamabad.