Islamabad. Pakistan’s National Assembly on Sunday passed a bill to limit the term of disqualification of parliamentarians to five years instead of life. This may possibly pave the way for Nawaz Sharif to return to active politics in the general elections later this year and return home from London.
In 2017, the Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz Sharif (73) for the post of Prime Minister. In the year 2018, in the ‘Panama Papers’ case, the Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz from holding public office for life. The Elections (Amendment) Bill 2023 aims to reduce the period of disqualification of MPs, besides empowering the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce election dates without consulting the President. The bill was already approved by the Upper House Senate on June 16.
The bill has to be approved by the President to become a law. As Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed President Arif Alvi is out of the country to perform Hajj, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani has taken over as acting president and is likely to retire without time, Geo News reported. Will approve the ruined bill.
The enactment of the law is expected to end Sharif’s lifetime disqualification, paving the way for him to return to the country and rejoin active politics ahead of a general election expected in October. However, Sharif still has to overturn the verdicts against him in two corruption cases before he can enter active politics.
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