By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) on Monday lifted a lifetime ban on lawmakers who had been disqualified for being dishonest or unrighteous, clearing the way for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his possible allies to run for office again.
The court, in a 6-1 ruling, said that a constitutional provision that required members of parliament to be “sadiq and ameen” — honest and righteous — was vague and did not specify how long the disqualification would last.
The court said that until parliament passed a law to define the terms and the duration of the ban, lawmakers would only face a five-year disqualification under the Elections Act, which was amended in 2023.
The bench was formed after a legal conundrum arose in view of the court’s 2018 verdict and a subsequent amendment to the Elections Act in 2023 that specified that the period of the electoral disqualification would be for five years, not for life.
The ruling effectively overturned a controversial verdict by the same court in 2018 that had interpreted the provision as imposing a permanent ban on lawmakers who had been found guilty of violating certain obligations.
Sharif, a three-time prime minister, was ousted by the court for concealing salary from his son’s Dubai business. Sharif is now eligible to contest the elections as his sentence has expired after five years.
Sharif was not a party to the case that led to the court’s decision, which was filed by several other politicians who were also barred for life from holding office.
The Istehkam-i-Pakistan party’s Tareen, who was accused of failing to declare his ownership of an offshore company, can also run for office.
The ruling is a major boost for Sharif’s party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which is seen as the frontrunner to win the Feb. 8 vote, despite facing a strong challenge from the party of former prime minister Imran Khan.
The chief justice, Qazi Faez Isa, who headed the seven-member bench that delivered Monday’s ruling, said that the court’s interpretation of the constitution in 2018 was “beyond the scope” of the provision and amounted to “reading into the constitution”.
Justice Isa said that such reading into the constitution was also against the principle of harmonious interpretation of the provisions of the constitution as it abridged the fundamental right of citizens to contest elections and vote for a candidate of their choice.
The court also overruled its 2018 judgment in the Samiullah Baloch case, in which it had held that the disqualification handed down under Article 62(1)(f) was supposed to be permanent.
Justice Yahya Afridi was the lone dissenter on the bench, who upheld the 2018 verdict and said that the constitutional provision was meant to ensure the integrity and credibility of the parliament.
Some legal experts expressed their concern over the ruling and said that it had diluted the accountability of the lawmakers and undermined the fight against corruption. The court had failed to address the issue of the lack of a law to implement the constitutional provision and left it to the discretion of the parliament, which was unlikely to enact such a law in the near future, they added.
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