PM Nawaz Sharif disqualified, throwing Pakistan’s political future in turmoil

In an historic ruling, all five members of Pakistan’s high court bench voted Friday to disqualify veteran Prime Minister Nawas Sharif from office, on charges of corruption against him and his family. He was shown to have lied in his account of the source of his family’s wealth, after the Panama Papers, penned by an unidentified source in Hamburg in 2015, uncovered a complex trail of overseas transactions by high-ranking officials in many countries through Panama. The Sharif case was referred to a special accountability court for prosecution.

The ruling party has not decided whether to call a new election or install a substitute in the prime minister’s chair. In his first term as prime minister, Sharif was overthrown by the army in 1999. The court ruing cuts short his second stint in power.

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