New Delhi: The Supreme Court of Pakistan’s verdict on Thursday, which disqualified Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister, was surprising to many but his party, Pakistan Muslim League (N), mocked it saying it was like giving capital punishment to someone for jumping a red light.
“Yes, the possibility of such a verdict was discussed. But then it was also quickly quashed because this verdict was too severe to be handed out. It’s like giving capital punishment to someone who jumped a red light,” a senior party leader said on request of anonymity.
The party, which came to power in 2013 making Sharif the Prime Minister for the third term, is now likely to fill his position temporarily for 45 days, post which a leader will be chosen to complete the term until 2018 general elections in Pakistan.
“We are focusing now on retaining faith of our people. The new prime minister is likely to be someone from the Sharif family. Sharif cannot hold power but his children’s cases have till now been referred to National Accountability Court. The chances of them being disqualified are 50-50. But then again, we will be keeping all possibilities covered,” News18 was told.
When asked if the Sharif family could consider moving to a foreign country, the PML (N) leader said no such move was on the card. “They are not going anywhere. Nawaz Sharif is the most popular leader of Pakistan. We will go to people’s court,” he said.
A unanimous verdict by a five-judge bench of Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday disqualified Sharif, saying he had been dishonest to parliament and the courts and could not be deemed fit for office.
“This is not a case of the Prime Minister going rogue. It’s a case of financial irregularity. All cards are on the table now for the legal team to look into. We didn’t expect the decision so the legal way to go about it now is being discussed from all possible angles,” the source added.
Analysts have warned that another bout of political turmoil would spook foreign investors, who are already reticent to invest in Pakistan, deterred by security fears and a tough business climate.
This is the first time that a Pakistani court has disqualified a Prime Minister on corruption charges and it throws the nation of 200 million and its politics into uncertainty.
The verdict pertains to the Panama Papers, an international cache of documents that were published in 2016 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Among the documents, eight offshore companies were reported to have links with Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, the Chief Minister of Punjab, Dawn newspaper reported.
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