ISLAMABAD: Come August, Imran Khan will again be on roads against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. But this time, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief will be pushing for investigation against the premier and his family for allegedly buying properties abroad and setting up offshore companies through money laundering.

Last time the PTI chairman had launched his anti-government movement in August 2014, accusing the prime minister and his party of rigging the 2103 general elections.

Speaking at a press conference at a hotel here on Wednesday, Mr Khan announced that his countrywide mass mobilisation campaign would start from Aug 7 against the prime minister for resisting investigation into the Panamagate scandal.

“It will be an awareness campaign, making the masses conscious of the fact how the ruling family has robbed this country and now when caught red-handed is refusing a free and fair probe,” Mr Khan said, adding: “The only objective of the movement is to make the prime minister agree for the Panama Papers inquiry according to our [opposition’s] terms of reference (ToR).”

Last time Imran Khan launched his anti-government movement in 2014, accusing the PM of rigging the 2103 general elections

When asked if by declaring a PTI-led movement he was distancing himself from the 11-party opposition bloc formed against the government following the Panama Papers leaks, Mr Khan insisted that his party was firmly standing by the opposition alliance. “As far as the alliance’s strategy inside parliament and otherwise is concerned, the PTI fully supports that and the mass contact movement is meant only to inform people about the issue of Panamagate and garner support against the government,” he explained.

But, in the same breath, Mr Khan warned that if the prime minister continued to defy the investigation which he probably would do, the same campaign could turn from rallies into sit-in or any other form. For the movement, he said, provincial committees of the party would be formed for necessary arrangements.

The government has refused a set of terms of reference presented to it by the opposition parties for constituting the proposed Panama inquiry commission.

At a meeting convened by the PTI on Tuesday, the opposition parties called for an impartial investigation into the Panama Papers leaks and refused to hold further negotiations with the government on the issue. Before that both the government and the opposition failed to agree on the ToR for the proposed commission, with the government accusing the opposition parties of targeting the prime minister in the garb of Panamagate probe.

At the press conference, the PTI chairman announced that his party would hold a demonstration outside the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on July 25 against what he called its criminal silence on the issue of Panama Papers leaks. “Even before these leaks, the BBC aired a documentary film detailing evidence against the Sharifs for buying foreign properties through laundered money. NAB must have acted there and then.”

About the mass campaign, Mr Khan said it had been decided that all the three million members of the PTI would be asked to donate Rs100 each for it.

Clarifying his recent controversial statement in which he had said if martial law was imposed in the country, people would distribute sweets, Mr Khan said: “I have struggled for democracy in the country for 20 years and when the PTI has become the largest political party how come I will woo military rule in the country.”

In the event of martial law, the PTI would be the biggest sufferer, he added.

The PTI chairman said there was a consensus among the political leaderships of the country for democracy, but it was “undemocratic attitude” of the prime minister and his ruling party which was a matter of concern.

“I am offering myself for scrutiny under the same ToR which opposition parties have proposed for the prime minister. If the PML-N leader has nothing to hide then he must present himself for investigation,” Mr Khan said.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2016