The Supreme Court of Pakistan will announce its decision in a set of petitions challenging the duration of disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) today (Monday).
A seven-member bench of the SC led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa had reserved the verdict on Friday. The bench also includes Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, and Justice Musarrat Hilali.
The decision is expected to have an impact on the eligibility of multiple political leaders including Nawaz Sharif and Jahangir Tareen for the upcoming general elections.
Although the two leaders, among others, had received lifetime disqualification sentences, amendments by the outgoing Pakistan Democratic Movement government had limited disqualification to five years.
The amendments had created a complex legal question which is now expected to be settled by the court.
However, the court had tried to dispel the notion that the case would benefit a particular personality. Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa even barred a lawyer from mentioning Sharif’s name during a hearing on Friday.
At one point in the case, the CJP observed that Parliament had limited the disqualification period to five years. “We can’t tell Parliament to craft a law this way. This is their job, our job is another job. Is it unconstitutional?”
The disqualification sentence is the last remaining legal hurdle in Sharif’s way as he sets his eyes on another term in the prime minister’s office.
