The Economic Times :
Nawaz Sharif has resigned as prime minister of Pakistan on Friday following a decision by the country’s Supreme Court to disqualify him from office on corruption charges, a development that will further plunge the country into crisis.
Nawaz’s brother and CM of Pakistan’s Punjab province Shahbaz Sharif is tipped to step into his shoes. The ruling came after a probe into Sharif’s family’s wealth following the 2015 Panama Papers linked Sharif’s children to offshore companies. Sharif has consistently denied any wrongdoing in the case.
The five judges reached a unanimous verdict in the Islamabad court, which was packed. “Following the verdict, Nawaz Sharif has resigned from his responsibilities as prime minister,” a spokesman for Sharif’s office said in a statement. One of the judges, Ejaz Afzal Khan, said that Sharif was no longer “eligible to be an honest member of the parliament”.
Crowds assembled outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad cheering the court’s verdict. As the verdict was announced, opposition supporters erupted in applause, rushing to the streets chanting slogans and handing out sweets, according to reports.
The vice-chairman of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, called it an “historic day” and praised the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) for “not succumbing to the enormous pressure and serving the cause of justice.” The verdict was announced amid heightened security in the capital, with about 3,000 armed police and members of the Pakistan Rangers paramilitary force deployed near and around the Supreme Court.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan earlier advised Sharif to accept Friday’s verdict. The court has recommended anti-corruption cases against several individuals, including Sha rif, his daughter Maryam and her husband Safdar, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and others. Sharif, who was serving as prime minister for a record third time, was less than a year away from becoming the first in Pakistani history to complete a full term in office. Allegations of corruption have dogged Sharif since the 1980s.
And much of what the Panama Papers revealed was the subject of an inquiry in the mid-1990s. It is not immediately clear who will succeed Sharif, but his brother Shahbaz, who is chief minister of Punjab province, is seen as a strong contender for the job. Pakistan’s ruling party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), will be permitted by the speaker of the National Assembly to select an interim prime minister to rule until the 2018 general election.
Opposition parties will also have the opportunity to put forward their own candidates for the position. Meanwhile, the court has directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the main anti-corruption body, to compile and send four references to accountability courts against Sharif and others.
