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.