Nawaz Sharif proceeds to Muree with family after vacating PM House

Nawaz Sharif proceeds to Muree with family after vacating PM House

Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif, on Sunday, vacated the Prime Minister's House and departed for Punjab province's Murree town along with his family members.

Geo News quoted sources as saying that Sharif decided to reside in Murree rather than his Raiwind estate in Lahore till the election of the new prime minister slated for Tuesday.

According to reports, Sharif personally met all the staff members of the PM House before leaving.

Sharif along with his wife Kulsum Nawaz, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and his son-in-law Captain Safdar vacated the PM House two days after a five-member bench of the Supreme Court unanimously disqualified him for failing to disclose his 'unwithdrawn' salary as chairman of a United Arab Emirates (UAE) based firm at the time of filing his nomination.

Sharif had resigned from the Prime Minister's office following disqualification from the Supreme Court in the Panamagate verdict.

According to reports, the legal basis for disqualifying Sharif is explained in the page 23 and 24 of the verdict.

It says: "As a sequel to what has been discussed in paragraphs 13 above, the following declaration and direction is issued:-

i) It is hereby declared that having failed to disclose his unwithdrawn receivables constituting assets from Capital FZE, Jebel Ali, UAE in his nomination papers filed for the General Elections held in 2013 in terms of Section 12(2)(f) of the Representation of the People Act, 1976 (ROPA), and having furnished a false declaration under solemn affirmation respondent No. 1 Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is not honest in terms of Section 99(f) of ROPA and Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, therefore, he is disqualified to be a Member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament);

ii) The Election Commission of Pakistan shall issue a notification disqualifying respondent No. 1 Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif from being a Member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) with immediate effect, where after he shall cease to be the Prime Minister of Pakistan."

The apex court ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file a reference against the accused in an accountability court in six weeks, directing for the trial to be concluded within six months.

It is the second time in Pakistan's 70-year history that the Supreme Court has disqualified a sitting prime minister. In 2012 then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was disqualified over contempt of court charges for refusing to reopen a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari.

Also, no Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a full five-year elected term. Most tenures have been cut short by military coups.

While serving as the country's Prime Minister in 1993, Sharif was sacked by the then-president over graft allegations, while in 1999 he was ousted in a military coup.

Following the apex court's verdict, the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) announced Punjab Chief Minister and Nawaz Sharif's younger brother Shehbaz Sharif as the next Prime Minister of Pakistan.

-ANI

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