Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif should be disqualified: Plea filed in Lahore High Court

A petition has been filed in a Pakistani court seeking the disqualification of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for making a "false promise" to the court regarding the return of his elder brother Nawaz Sharif from the UK after his treatment.

A petition has been filed in a Pakistani court seeking the disqualification of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for making a "false promise" to the court regarding the return of his elder brother Nawaz Sharif from the UK after his treatment.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday adjourned the hearing for an indefinite period, observing that this petition should have been moved when Shehbaz Sharif failed to fulfil his promise during the tenure of the previous government.

Nawaz Sharif, the supreme leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the elder brother of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has been living in self-exile in the UK since November 2019.

Petitioner Azhar Abbas contended that Shehbaz Sharif had filed a "false affidavit" before a two-judge bench of the Lahore High Court in November 2019 that he would ensure the return of his elder brother within four weeks if Nawaz Sharif was allowed to go abroad for his treatment.

The petitioner said the Lahore High Court accepted Shehbaz Sharif's affidavit and allowed Nawaz Sharif, now 73, to go abroad for his treatment for four weeks. But Nawaz Sharif had been travelling to Europe and the Gulf since November 2019 but was not returning to Pakistan as undertaken by Shehbaz Sharif. Besides, it appears that Nawaz Sharif had feigned his illness to secure court relief, he alleged.

Shehbaz Sharif, 71, should be disqualified under the provisions of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, the petitioner pleaded before the court.

Assistant Attorney General Sheraz Zaka objected to the maintainability of the writ petition, saying the petitioner was not an aggrieved person in the matter.