Sharif can’t contest elections for life, rules Pak apex court

In a landmark judgment, Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday rendered deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ineligible to hold public office for life by ruling that disqualification of a lawmaker under Article 62( 1)( f) of the Constitution would be for a lifetime.

Mr Sharif, 68, was disqualified on July 28, 2017, in the Panama Papers case by the Supreme Court for not being “honest and righteous” as he failed to declare in 2013 a salary he got from the company of his son in the UAE.

I n Nawaz Sharif February, the apex court also disqualified Mr Sharif as the head of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz ( PML- N).

In Friday’s verdict, the apex court said that under the country’s Constitution, no person once disqualified from office by the top court can hold public office again.

Justice Umar Ata Bandyal read out the 60page verdict of the fivemember bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, in cases involving interpretation and determination of the question of temporary or permanent bar from contesting elections.

The apex court’s ruling that ended the political future of the three- time premier ahead of general elections in June came during the hearing on a case related to the determination of time duration for disqualification of a lawmaker under the Constitution.