Pakistani court lifts electoral ban on former premier (Roundup)

May 26, 2009, 13:34 GMT

   Islamabad - Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted a ban on opposition leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from contesting elections.

   The move cleared the way for a comeback for the two-time ex-premier in electoral politics. He could become a member of parliament in a by-election for a seat expected to be vacated by a legislator from his party in a couple of months.

   Justice Tasadaq Hussain, the head of a five-member panel of the high court, said while reading out a short order that the previous rulings disqualifying Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif from elections were 'set aside.'

   The panel did not release the reason behind its decision.

   A February 25 verdict by the Supreme Court barring the brothers from contesting parliamentary elections and holding public office sparked protests in Punjab, the country's most populous province and a stronghold of the Sharifs' Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

   The ruling also made the Sharifs throw their weight behind lawyers struggling for the reinstatement of top judge Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was sacked by the former president and Nawaz Sharif's bitter rival Pervez Musharraf.

   As a so-called Long March by tens of thousands of opposition activists and attorneys moved toward the capital, Islamabad, for a planned sit-in on March 16, the government announced the reinstatement of the fired judge to avoid a potentially explosive showdown.

   'I would like to salute the people of Pakistan again because they, with great effort, fought for the independence of the judiciary,' Nawaz Sharif told reporters at his residence in Lahore, the capital of Punjab.

   'Justice was bound to happen; ... however, instead of being triumphant, we are grateful to God,' added Nawaz Sharif, who has been shown by some recent polls as the most popular leader in the country.

   Despite the court ruling, the politician faces a constitutional bar on his election as prime minister for a third term, but he could lead his party to a victory in parliamentary elections to be held in four years and try to bring about the required constitutional amendments to remove the term limit.