Pakistan Supreme Court begins hearing Nawaz Sharif's appeal against his disqualification

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday began hearing appeal of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif against his disqualification in July. Mr. Sharif resigned from the PM office but challenged the verdict.

A five member Bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa observed that the verdict given by all five judges unanimously disqualified the prime minister.

Mr. Sharif's lawyer Khawaja Haris in his preliminary arguments said the disqualification was done “on a flimsy ground” of not showing his unclaimed salary from a Dubai-based company FZE Capital owned by his son. But the court observed that Mr. Sharif was the chairman of the Board of Directors of the company.

Two judges of the five-member bench had declared Mr. Sharif disqualified after he failed to submit paper trail of his assets in the court. But the remaining three judges ordered a Joint Investigation Team to probe the matter. After examining the JIT report the court delivered a unanimous 5-0 judgment on July 28 declaring Mr. Sharif not being truthful and honest; subsequently he resigned.

The court also ordered registration of corruption cases against Sharif and his family. Top anti-corruption body National Accountability Bureau has submitted four corruption cases against the Sharifs in accountability courts. The apex court has also directed NAB to ensure completion of the cases in six months time and a Supreme Court judge will be monitoring the progress.

His wife Kulsoon Nawaz ,currently undergoing throat cancer surgery in London, will be contesting on his seat in bye-elections scheduled for this Sunday.