Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) has issued verdict over review petitions filed by disqualified premier Nawaz Sharif stating that no loopholes were pointed out in the disqualification order by the claimants.
The top court has issued a 23-page order in review petitions against the July 28 verdict in a corruption reference against Nawaz Sharif and his family.
According to the order, the accountability court that is hearing corruption references against the family is free to go ahead with verdict that it deems appropriate in light of the evidence provided.
The court has maintained that six and a half years worth of salary is to be considered an asset of Nawaz Sharif and that forged affidavit was attached along nomination papers of Nawaz Sharif.
The order compiled by Justice Ijaz Afzal reads that the facts regarding disqualification of Nawaz Sharif were uncontroversial. It is wrong to claim that then premier was ‘shocked’ by the order, the court has ruled.
A five-member bench of the Supreme Court dismissed a set of review petitions filed by Nawaz Sharif and members of his family against the July 28 verdict in Panama case on September 15.
The bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Azmat Saeed, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, dismissed the petitions through a short order and will issue a detailed verdict later.
On July 28, the apex court had disqualified then PM Nawaz Sharif in a unanimous verdict in the Panama case, thus cutting short his third stint in power. Soon after the SC judgement, the PM House issued a terse statement saying that Nawaz Sharif, despite having reservations on the SC’s verdict, has stepped down from his post as the premier.
Sharif served as prime minister twice in the 1990s before he himself was ousted in a 1999 coup leading to a decade of exile. He won a third term as prime minister in a 2013 election.
