Petition seeking Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif's disqualification filed in Lahore High Court

Lahore: 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 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 United Kingdom since November 2019.

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

The petitioner said the LHC 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. He said former premier Nawaz Sharif was allowed to travel abroad by the federal government of the time (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf of Imran Khan).

He argued that the petitioner had a remedy to approach an appropriate forum if he believed there was any offence. He requested the court to dismiss the petition as not maintainable.

The LHC then adjourned the hearing for an indefinite period.

Nawaz Sharif, a three-time former premier, was serving a seven-year jail term in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail when the LHC allowed him to leave the country for London on medical grounds in November 2019.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief and ousted prime minister Imran Khan has alleged that former army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa had manoeuvred Sharif's exit from jail and later struck a deal with him.

The PML-N says its supreme leader will return to Pakistan once the date of the general elections is announced.

Elections in the country are due in October as the tenure of the incumbent government ends on August 13.