ISLAMABAD – In a jolt to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a probe into the Panama Papers scandal involving corruption allegations against the family of the beleaguered premier, as police clashed with hundreds of activists from the country’s second largest party clashed with police overnight.
Before the court gave its judgement, Pakistan opposition leader Imran Khan backed down from his threat to shut down the capital on Wednesday, vowing instead to hold a celebratory rally.
“On the Supreme Court’s advice, we have decided that tomorrow we will thank God and celebrate a Day of Thanks at (Islamabad’s) parade ground,” cricketer-turned-politician Khan told media on Tuesday, speaking outside his home in Islamabad.
The celebratory rally is a step back from his threat to paralyse the city and the government, and is likely to ease tension that has boiled over into violence in the days ahead of the planned protest in the capital.
Khan’s earlier vow to “shut down” Islamabad prompted a citywide ban on gatherings and the arrests of hundreds of opposition activists accused of defying the ban. His supporters of the cricketer-turned-politician clashed with police overnight as they streamed towards the capital from his political stronghold, the northeastern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Police manning barricades on the roads into the capital were mostly armed with large sticks and batons but have repeatedly used tear gas to drive back the crowds.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is Pakistan’s second largest opposition party.
His latest challenge against Sharif’s government is based on leaked documents from the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm that appear to show that his daughter and two sons owned offshore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands.
Khan’s PTI said on Tuesday that two of its supporters have died from police use of tear gas to prevent hundreds of supporters from entering the capital, Islamabad, for a planned protest demanding the prime minister step down.
“Two of our workers have been killed due to excessive use of expired tear-gas shells,” said Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a senior leader of the party said on local Geo TV.
Local authorities could not immediately be reached to confirm any deaths.
Sharif’s family denies wrongdoing.
Holding offshore companies is not illegal in Pakistan, but Khan has implied the money was gained by corruption. Khan admitted in May that he himself used an offshore company to legally avoid paying British tax on a London property sale.
