General elections 2024: Nawaz Sharif to ‘contest’ from Mansehra

MANSEHRA: PML-N leader Captain (retd) Safdar Awan on Wednesday claimed that party supremo Nawaz Sharif, who was disqualified from holding any public office in July 2017, will contest the upcoming general elections 2024 from Mansehra, ARY News reported.

The three-time prime minister — who returned to Pakistan in October after ending a 4-year self-imposed exile in London — hopes to take a fourth shot at power, but still major legal hurdles remain in his path to contest the general elections.

The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan had disqualified Nawaz Sharif from holding public office in a landmark decision on the Panama Papers case in July 2017. Subsequently, he stepped down from the role of the prime minister.

Moreover, the PML-N supremo was handed a disqualification of 10 years from holding a public office in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption.

Later, the Supreme Court said the disqualification under Article 62(1)(f), which sets the precondition for a member of parliament to be “sadiq and ameen” (honest and righteous) was for life.

In July 2018, an accountability court handed down Nawaz a 10-year imprisonment in the Avenfield Apartments reference – filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB). In addition to this, he was awarded one-year imprisonment for not cooperating with the anti-graft watchdog.

Since his return to the country, Nawaz Sharif has been able to secure the desired results from the courts.

Nawaz Sharif’s conviction in the Al-Azizia case — one of the three references instituted against him in light of the Panama Papers — was declared void as Islamabad High Court (IHC) acquitted him.

However, the PML-N supremo needs the lifelong ban on holding any public office to be removed if he is to qualify to contest the upcoming polls.

Talking to journalists today, Capt Safdar Awan said that the three-time prime minister would contest the upcoming general polls from NA-15 constituency of Mansehra. “He will address the 24-year deprivations of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP)”, he added.

Meanwhile, Safdar said that her wife Maryam Nawaz would contest both national and provincial assemblies’ seats from Punjab, adding that he would not contest the polls.