Islamabad, April 13: Pakistan's Supreme Court today ruled that the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been disqualified from holding public office for life.
According to Pakistani news website tribune, the five-member Pakistani Supreme Court bench observed that such the disqualification restriction is fair in a democratic set up. Both Sharif and former Pakistani Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secretary general Jahangir Tareen have been barred from holding public office for life.
The ruling by the bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah will have a massive impact on Pakistan's political system.
Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, who was heading the bench, remarked before the verdict was announced that the public deserves leaders of good character.
The former Prime Minister Sharif stepped down last year after the Supreme Court disqualified him for not disclosing his assets. Apex Court disqualified Sharif from office for not being honest and concealing assets. The probe against him began after his children were named in the leaked so-called Panama papers for owning off-shore accounts and properties.