ISLAMABAD: The opposition on Friday expressed fears that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif could use the Punjab government’s influence and resources to mobilise the masses, disrupt peace and exert pressure on the Supreme Court before the announcement of the Panama Papers case judgement.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) held separate meetings after a verdict was reserved and expressed the hope that the decision would be announced in a week and the prime minister would be disqualified.

PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry told Dawn after the meeting presided over by the party’s chairman Imran Khan that it had concluded that the prime minister had no option but to resign.

PTI discusses poll preparation after conclusion of Panama Papers case hearing

The PTI decided that it would not give any call to the people to take to the streets because that would provide a pretext to the government to retaliate and disrupt peace.

“However, the PTI believes that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will utilise the resources of the Punjab government and try to bring people on the streets to pressure the Supreme Court before the announcement of the Panama Papers case verdict,” the spokesman said.

He said employees of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had held demonstrations in several places and threatened to paralyse all airports if Mr Sharif was disqualified. “They can adopt such tactics to disrupt peace,” he said.

The spokesman said Mr Khan was of the view that the government should continue and only the prime minister should leave his office.

However, another senior PTI leader Arif Alvi said his party expected that if Mr Sharif was disqualified he would go for early elections instead of nominating anyone from the PML-N as the next prime minister.

“We have completed our homework for early elections,” he said.

The meeting was informed that the PTI would field around 225 candidates for the National Assembly seats, of whom 71 had been chosen.

The PTI leader said his party believed that the PML-N would again disagree with the verdict and launch agitation to malign the court. “But the PTI has decided that it will remain calm because we don’t want to lose our battle that we have won in the Supreme Court.”

He said the participants of the meeting had concluded that after the disqualification of Mr Sharif, the N-League would dissolve with the emergence of new factions or it would remain as the PML only. “Many members of the N-League want to join the PTI,” he said.

The PTI, he said, believed that the judgement of Justice Asif Saeed Khosa of the Supreme Court in the case would be followed by the three-judge implementation bench which had reserved its ruling. “Justice Khosa has asked for disqualification of Nawaz Sharif and removal of the NAB chairman before the Panama papers case is referred to the bureau,” Mr Alvi said.

PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari also chaired a meeting of his party and gave several instructions about the reaction after the verdict in the case would be announced.

Speaking outside the Supreme Court earlier, PPP leaders Sherry Rehman and Qamar Zaman Kaira also expressed the fear that the ruling party would intensify its campaign to resist and reject the verdict.

Ms Rehman said Prime Minister Sharif was bent upon confronting the Supreme Court as, during a speech on Thursday, he had termed his accountability as ‘exploitation’.

Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, who is one of the petitioners against the prime minister, urged the Supreme Court to provide foolproof security to the members of the joint investigation team formed by it to investigate the case.

Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq said the law was taking its course against ‘powerful’ people for the first time in the country. He was of the view that the disqualification of the prime minister was imminent.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2017