Court bars former Pakistan PM Sharif from holding office for life

Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif waves to his supporters as he leaves the court in Islamabad. Picture: B.K. Bangash/AP

Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif waves to his supporters as he leaves the court in Islamabad. Picture: B.K. Bangash/AP

Published Apr 13, 2018

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Islamabad/Karachi - Pakistan's Supreme

Court disqualified deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif from

holding office for life on Friday amid an ongoing corruption

trial and ahead of general elections due this year.

The Supreme Court barred Sharif, 67, from politics in July

over an undeclared source of income, but the veteran leader

maintains his grip on the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz

(PML-N) party, even though he is no longer its leader.

Friday's ruling addressed an ambiguity over whether he was

barred for life or for a specific period for not being honest.

The ruling was an interpretation of a constitutional article

that has been used to remove legislators from office before, a

senior lawyer said.

Sharif and his family have called the corruption proceedings

a conspiracy, hinting at intervention by the military, but

opponents have hailed them as a rare example of the rich and

powerful being held accountable. The military denies any such

intervention.

Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb told reporters

"nameless and faceless people" had interfered to orchestrate

Sharif's political demise and the downfall of the PML-N.

"Now today they disqualified (Sharif) for life. But people

of Pakistan will decide whether the disqualification of an

elected prime minister is for one day or for life," she added.

Sharif is currently appearing before an accountability court

in Islamabad on other charges linked to London properties his

family owns - proceedings ordered by the Supreme Court last July

- that could see him jailed if found guilty.

Supporters of former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif chant slogans in Islamabad following the Supreme Court decision to disqualify Sharif from holding office for life. Picture: Faisal Mahmood/Reuters

Sharif has served as prime minister three times and each

time was removed from office - in 1993 by presidential order, in

1999 by a military coup that saw him jailed and later exiled

before returning when General Pervez Musharraf stepped down, and

in 2017 over the corruption probe.

His allies have called the proceedings a political vendetta.

"It's a significant decision because it will ... also have

implications for the future," senior lawyer and former president

of Pakistan Wasim Sajjad told Reuters.

"If it is found by a court of law that any person wanting to

be a member of parliament has furnished particulars which are

found false or omitted to furnish particulars which are

necessary, then he will come under that category of persons

disqualified for life."

Sharif was also removed as head of the party he founded when

the courts overturned a legal amendment by PML-N lawmakers in

February that allowed him to remain party president despite

being disqualified from public office.

Despite not being party leader, Sharif has considerable sway

over the workings of the PML-N and enjoys the support of its

core leadership.

A lawmaker from Sharif's party filed a complaint late last

year alleging opposition Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party leader

Imran Khan and secretary general Jahangir Tareen owned offshore

companies and had not disclosed their assets.

Khan was cleared by the courts but Tareen was disqualified

in December under the same constitutional article used to remove

Sharif from office. 

Reuters

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