The Pakistan Supreme Court will today hear the case of lifetime disqualification of politicians including former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, which will, among other things, decide the fate of Nawaz Sharif, who will seek a record fourth term as Prime Minister in the February 8 elections. Are keeping an eye on.
A seven-member bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa will adjudicate on the dispute and all such disputes relating to the period of disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution and the amendment made to the Election Act 2017.
A five-member bench of the apex court had declared in a 2018 judgment that the disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution was for life but on June 26 last year, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Changes were made in the Election Act 2017 by the coalition government.
The Shehbaz Sharif government has set only a five-year sentence for ineligible politicians. There was a dispute on this. Now the Supreme Court will settle the dispute regarding the period of disqualification.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified in the Panama Papers case in 2017. Since then he has been out of politics but his party had made changes in the law last year, paving the way for him to contest this year’s elections.
His rival former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was disqualified last year in the Toshakhana case, has also been hit by the same law.
The controversy came up in the Supreme Court last month during the hearing of a petition filed by Sardar Mir Badshah Khan Kaisarani, who had filed nomination papers from Constituency NA-189 and PP-240 Taunsa (Dera Ghazi Khan) in the 2008 and 2018 elections. But he was disqualified for presenting a fake graduation degree.
During the hearing, the Chief Justice remarked that the apex court’s judgment on lifetime disqualification and the amendments made to the Election Act, 2017, cannot co-exist.
He said that in such a situation, confusion may arise in the upcoming general elections due to the interpretation of the Supreme Court and discrepancies in the law.
After this, the Supreme Court has constituted a seven-member bench. This bench will decide the future of Sharif and Khan as well as many other politicians.