Pakistan’s Imran Khan backs off from threat to shut down capital

ISLAMABAD, Reuters) – Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan backed down from a threat to paralyse the capital today, a move likely to ease tension that has spilled over into violence in the run-up to the planned protests. Late yesterday, his party also retracted a claim that two of its supporters had been killed in clashes with police.

Khan’s vow to “shut down” Islamabad to press a demand for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resign or face a corruption inquiry had sparked a citywide ban on gatherings and the arrests of hundreds of opposition activists accused of defying the ban.

Instead of the protest, Khan yesterday said he would hold a “celebratory” rally, following a decision by the Supreme Court to pursue a case linked to Sharif.

“We will hold a massive gathering in Islamabad tomorrow at the parade ground to celebrate this victory,” Khan told media outside his plush home on the edge of the capital.

In a bid to resolve the crisis, the Supreme Court said it would form a judicial commission to probe allegations stemming from the “Panama Papers” leaks about the Sharif family’s offshore wealth.

Khan had previously rejected the city High Court’s order to hold his protests on Islamabad’s parade ground, vowing to paralyse the capital with a turnout of a million protesters.

The tension unleashed fears Pakistan’s economic recovery could be jeopardised if there were a prolonged crisis that could even draw in the powerful military, which has a history of meddling in politics and overthrowing civilian governments.

There have been daily clashes between police and supporters of the cricketer-turned-politician in the lead-up to Wednesday, while the government has cracked down on workers of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

Authorities have arrested scores of party supporters and shut a major motorway leading from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Khan’s political heartland. After the Supreme Court decision, officials said the highway barriers would be cleared.

Authorities said they wanted to prevent a repeat of protests called by Khan that paralysed the city’s government quarter for four months in 2014 after he rejected Sharif’s election win a year earlier.