ISLAMABAD: The decision to call off the Nov 2 protest at the eleventh hour was the right thing to do, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan told reporters in front of the Supreme Court on Thursday after the hearing of petitions against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and members of his family in the Panamagate case.

He was joined by Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Jahangir Tareen.

`Our people were charged up and wanted the lockdown to proceed,` Mr Khan said, adding that he was happy that the judges had rejected the government`s plea that the petitions were not maintainable.

Reiterating his demand for the prime minister`s resignation, Mr Khan accused the government of attempting to use `delaying tactics` in the apex court.

The PTI chairman alleged that the prime minister`s `courtiers` had earlier declared that they would not challenge the maintainability of the petitions, but the prime minister had challenged the maintainability of the case before the judges through the attorney general.

He said it was unfortunate that Nawaz Sharif`s children had not yet submitted their replies to the Supreme Court even though they had been given more than two weeks.

The Panama Papers leaks had surfaced about seven months ago and the prime minister had announced that he was ready to face accountability, and `now they want more time`. He said the prime minister had lost themoral high ground to rule the country. `Why are you running away?` he asked.

Mr Khan said that the PTI would raise an objection to the appearance of the attorney general in the case. The attorney general received salary from taxpayers` money and could not appear on the behalf of the `corrupt family`.

`Why is the attorney general representing the Sharif family? He is a paid state employee.

[It is] not his job to defend Nawaz Sharif and his family,` Mr Khan later tweeted.

In another tweet, he alleged that the government had released Rs470 million for an advertisement campaign to counter PTPs movement. `Taxpayer money is being misused,` he said.

PTImeeting Following the court proceedings, the senior PTI leadership held a meeting at Mr Khan`s Banigala residence to devise a strategy in the light of the Thursday`s proceedings.

Talking to Dawn, PTI vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said they had met to analyse the reply submitted by the prime minister and statements of various government ministers in connection with the court proceedings.

In the light of the discussion and feedback from their legal team, he said, they would be able to issue instructions to their lawyers for future proceedings.

Mr Qureshi said the PTI had decided to take the Panama issue to its logical conclusion and would not allow the rulers `to run away f rom accountability`.

Responding to a question, he said he had requested the party leadership to be careful while commenting on the court`s proceedings since the issue was `delicate`. He said he personally believed that unnecessary commentary on the court`s proceedings should be avoided and that political parties should make statements in the court only.