Islamabad, Pakistan– Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has stepped down after the Supreme Court disqualified him from office as leader of the country’s government.
Friday’s landmark ruling comes after months of hearings in a case instigated by the “Panama Papers” leaks, related to alleged corruption during his previous two terms in office.
A five-member bench of the Supreme Court announced the verdict to a packed courtroom in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad
Sharif’s ouster, on the grounds that he lied about his assets during a corruption probe, means that his ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, which holds a comfortable majority in parliament, will have to nominate a new leader.
According to a statement from the prime minister’s office, Sharif stood down from his post in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling.
“All legal and constitutional options will be exercised regarding our serious differences with this verdict, the statement read.
The 67-year-old becomes the latest Pakistani prime minister not to have completed a five-year term in office, many having been overthrown in coups by the country’s powerful military, which has ruled the country for roughly half of its 69-year-history.
Sharif and three of his children have been referred to a National Accountability court, which has been ordered to register corruption cases against them within six weeks, the judges said.
The court also referred Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who has served as Sharif’s accountant in the past, to the corruption court, along with other associates of Sharif.
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| Opponents of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif shout slogans as they exit the Supreme Court in Islamabad [Caren Firouz/Reuters] |
‘True accountability’
Mariyam Aurangzeb, Sharif’s information minister, said the government was “saddened” but “not surprised” by Friday’s ruling.
PML-N would consult with legal experts before deciding on a course of action, she told reporters, adding that the verdict did not offer any proof of government corruption.
“I want to speak directly to Pakistan’s public … not a single paisa [the smallest unit of Pakistani currency] of government corruption has been established even by this verdict,” she said.
READ MORE: What’s next for Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif?
Meanwhile, the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced plans to celebrate the verdict with a rally on Sunday.
Imran Khan, the PTI leader who championed the case against Sharif, described Friday’s ruling as a triumph for democracy.
“What we have seen today, if anything could strengthen Pakistan’s democracy, then this is it. In a democracy, a leadership must be accountable,” the cricketer-turned-politician said. “Our democratic evolution has moved forward.”
Speaking ahead of the verdict, Siraj-ul-Haq, leader of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party and one of the plaintiffs in the case, said he hoped the decision would help strengthen the rule of law.
“True accountability is necessary for true democracy,” he told reporters outside the courtroom. “The law seems to not have been applied to the rich, but only to the poor.”
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Money trail
The allegations against Sharif centred around the ownership of four apartments in London’s posh Park Lane neighbourhood.
In 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists leaked 11.5 million documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, dubbed the “Panama Papers”.
Several documents included in the leak showed three of Sharif’s children – Hussain, Hasan and Maryam – owned at least three off-shore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands.
The documents showed that these companies had engaged in deals worth $25m.
Crucially, one of the documents also revealed that the companies had been involved in a $13.2m mortgage involving the London properties as collateral, the first time the Sharif family’s ownership of the apartments was proven on paper.
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