Pakistan’s PM Shahbaz’s troubles increased, petition filed in Lahore High Court for disqualification

A petition has been filed in a Pakistani court seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for making a false promise to the court regarding his elder brother Nawaz Sharif’s return from the UK after treatment. The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday adjourned the hearing sine die, saying that the petition should have been filed when Shehbaz Sharif failed to fulfill his promise during the tenure of the previous government. Nawaz Sharif, the supreme leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and elder brother of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has been living in self-exile in the UK since November 2019.

Petitioner Azhar Abbas argued that Shehbaz Sharif had filed a false affidavit before a two-judge bench of the LHC in November 2019 that if Nawaz Sharif was allowed to go abroad for treatment, he would return to his home within four weeks. Will ensure the return of elder brother. The petitioner said the LHC accepted Shehbaz Sharif’s affidavit and allowed Nawaz Sharif, who is now 73, to go abroad for four weeks for his treatment. But Nawaz Sharif had been traveling to Europe and the Gulf since November 2019, but was not returning to Pakistan as per Shehbaz Sharif’s visit. Besides, it appears that Nawaz Sharif had made an excuse of his illness to get relief from the court, he alleged.

The petitioner urged the court that 71-year-old Shehbaz Sharif should be disqualified under the provisions of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution. Assistant Attorney General Sheraz Zaka objected to the maintainability of the writ petition, saying the petitioner was not an aggrieved person in the matter. He said Nawaz Sharif was given permission to travel abroad by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, headed by the then Prime Minister Imran Khan.