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Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan politics? Seems imminent as…
Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani served as acting president signing the bill in the absence of president Arif Alvi.
Pakistan's national assembly passed legislation limiting how long lawmakers can be disqualified from office, a state spokesman said. With this, exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif could return to politics. Nawaz Sharif served as Pakistan's prime minister three times after he was ousted over graft allegations in 2017. The country's top court had then barred him from politics for life. He was later sentenced to seven years in jail.
In 2019, Nawaz Sharif was granted medical bail. He then flew to Britain where he has remained ever since as he continues to steer his party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. His brother Shehbaz Sharif became prime minister last year and the country is due to hold fresh general elections this year.
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On Tuesday, a government spokesman said that the amendment which says that courts can only disqualify parliamentarians “for a period not exceeding five years” has been passed. Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani served as acting president signing the bill in the absence of president Arif Alvi.
"The ruling PML-N and its coalition partners want to bring Nawaz Sharif back," political analyst Hasan Askari told AFP.
"The bill has been passed to achieve this objective. Nawaz Sharif will be the main campaigner for PML-N in the next election," he added.
“His return will be very helpful for the party politically, but it's not clear whether he himself will contest the election,” he continued.
Nawaz Sharif still faces the graft case which saw him sentenced during the tenure of Imran Khan who was ousted by Shehbaz Sharif last April via a no-confidence vote. As Imran Khan remains widely popular in the countdown to polling, he has been calling for snap elections but his campaign has become bogged down by legal cases.
