ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has resigned following the country’s Supreme Court disqualified him over corruption claims against his family’s wealth.
The Court said Sharif was not fit to hold office and ordered a criminal investigation into him and his family after they could not account for the Sharif’s vast wealth. The verdict, delivered by a five-member supreme court, comes after the Panama Papers leak documented the involvement of Sharif’s children in the purchase of high-end London properties through offshore companies.
“He is no more eligible to be an honest member of the parliament, and he ceases to be holding the office of prime minister,” Judge Ejaz Afzal Khan said in court.
It is the third time the 67-year-old veteran politician’s term as premier has been cut short. The much-awaited verdict plunged Pakistan into a political crisis at a time when the country is facing a brittle economy and a surge in militancy.
The court disqualified Sharif under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution. The articles state that a member of Parliament should be “truthful” and “righteous”.
“He is disqualified as a member of the parliament so he has ceased to be holding the office of Prime Minister,” Justice Khan said. The court ordered the Election Commission to issue a notification for Sharif’s disqualification. The Supreme Court also ordered the National Accountability Court to start a corruption case against Sharif, his children — Hussain and Hassan — and his daughter Maryam.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Captain Muhammad Safdar, who is an Member of National Assembly (MNA), also stood disqualified from office.
No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term with their tenures cut short by the military, the judiciary or they were ousted by their own party, forced to resign — or assassinated. It is the second time in Pakistan’s 70-year history that the Supreme Court has disqualified a sitting prime minister.
