Nawaz Sharif disqualified as Pakistan Prime Minister by SC over Panama Papers case

Islamabad: In a huge jolt to Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif, the Supreme Court on Friday found him guilty in the Panamagate case in which he and his family are accused of corruption. The apex court  disqualified Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister and ordered filing of a criminal case against him and his family. He stepped down as PM an hour after the verdict came out. The five-judge bench ruled that the Prime Minister had been dishonest to Parliament and the courts and could not be deemed fit to hold office. The Attorney General said that the bench disqualified the Prime Minister for life.

#WATCH: Scenes outside Supreme Court of Pakistan after Nawaz Sharif's disqualification as PM; 'Go Nawaz Go' slogans raised #PanamaVerdict pic.twitter.com/S5f1wR0bi2

— ANI (@ANI_news) July 28, 2017

All prominent Politicians of Pak have Panama Papers entries. But Pak Army targeted Sharif because it wants a jehadi PM not a rubber stamp — Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) July 28, 2017

Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, who headed the implementation bench, said all material collected by the Joint Investigation Team would be sent to an accountability court within six weeks. He said cases should be opened against Maryam Nawaz (Sharif's daughter), Captain Muhammad Safdar (Maryam's husband), Hassan and Hussain Nawaz (PM Sharif's sons) as well as Prime Minister Sharif and a judgement should be announced within 30 days. The five-judge bench -- including Justices Asif Saeed Khosa, Gulzar Ahmed, Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Ijazul Ahsan, besides Ejaz Afzal Khan --- announced the much-awaited verdict in Courtroom No. 1 of the Supreme Court in Islamabad. The court also urged President Mamnoon Hussain to take charge of the country's affairs. This is the third time that Nawaz Sharif has been unable to complete his term in office. Shahbaz Sharif —Nawaz’s younger brother and chief minister of Punjab province — is likely to replace him. But has to win a bypoll to become member of the National Assembly. For a period of 45 days, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif is likely to become the interim PM for 45 days. The scandal is about alleged money laundering by Sharif in 1990s, when he twice served as prime minister, to purchase assets in London. The assets surfaced when Panama Papers leak last year revealed that they were managed through offshore companies owned by Sharif's children. The assets include four expensive flats in London. Sharif, who has been the prime minister of Pakistan for a record three time, faces the risk of being disqualified if the court finds him guilty of corruption and money laundering. He leads Pakistan's most powerful political family and the ruling PML-N party. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that he would resign and quit politics after the Supreme Court judgement on the Panamagate case. His announcement, which comes a day before the verdict in the high-profile case, stunned his supporters and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. Khan expressed serious disappointment over the way he was kept away from Sharif by his rivals. The verdict is keenly awaited as both of Sharif's first two stints have ended in the third year of his tenure. A steel tycoon-cum-politician, Sharif had served as the Pakistan's prime minister for the first time from 1990 to 1993. His second term from 1997 was ended in 1999 by Army chief Pervez Musharraf in a bloodless coup. In May, the Supreme Court set up a six-member joint investigation team (JIT) to investigate the charges against the 67-year-old Sharif and his family. The JIT submitted its report to the court on July 10. It said the lifestyle of Sharif and his children were beyond their known sources of income, and recommended filing of a new corruption case against them. Sharif dismissed the report as a "bundle of baseless allegations" and refused to quit, despite demands to do so from several quarters, including opposition political parties. On July 21, the court reserved its verdict after concluding the hearing. Its decision to issue the verdict  came as a surprise to many as it earlier announced the cause list for two weeks which had not scheduled the Panamagate case. In the wake of the verdict, Islamabad police have announced special security arrangements and closed the capital's central "Red Zone" area, which has important buildings including the Supreme Court, for the general public. The entry to the court will be restricted to only those having special passes. The six-member JIT was set up with a mandate to probe the Sharif family for allegedly failing to provide the trail of money used to buy properties in London in the 1990s. The top court took up the case in October last year onpetitions filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Awami Muslim League and Jamaat-e-Islami and reserved the verdict inFebruary after conducting hearings on a daily basis.