Kulsoom's nomination papers for NA-120 challenged

LAHORE: Nawaz Sharif has been disqualified following the Panama Papers probe unveiling his family’s stashed offshore wealth and it seems the disqualification is continuing to haunt the Sharif family as an aftermath.

In a latest development, nomination of Kulsoom Nawaz, wife of ousted PM Sharif, to contest for NA-120 has been challenged as she used name of disqualified person’s party in the election, which according to a petitioner, cannot be allowed.

The NA-120 seat, Lahore-III, fell vacant after the Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualified Nawaz Sharif as the premier of the country, and asked ECP to issue a notification removing him as a member of the National Assembly.

Advocate Sarfraz challenged Kulsoom’s nomination papers in the Lahore office of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday.

The petitioner contended that the country’s top court had disqualified Nawaz Sharif for not being Sadiq (truthful) and Ameen (honest).

He argued in his plea that the party was registered in the name of disqualified PM, hence it’s not legitimate to use the name in the election. He said nomination papers of Kulsoom Nawaz filed with the name of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) should be discarded.

Petitioner claims that the words “Nawaz Sharif” cannot be used in election after the Supreme Court’s judgment in Panama Papers case.

On July 28, A five-judge Supreme Court bench disqualified then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a unanimous verdict in the Panamagate case, thus cutting short his third stint in power.

Soon after the SC judgement, the PM House issued a terse statement saying that Nawaz Sharif, despite having reservations on the SC’s verdict, has stepped down from his post as the premier.

Sharif served as prime minister twice in the 1990s before he himself was ousted in a 1999 coup leading to a decade of exile. He won a third term as prime minister in a 2013 election.