Pak SC returns Sharif brothers’ disqualification review petitions

May 26th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Revoking the Lahore High Court's verdict to disqualify former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif from contesting elections, the Pakistan Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday declared the Sharif brothers eligible for fighting elections. The five-member SC bench headed by Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jilani, while hearing the review petitions filed by the Sharifs' against their disqualification on the conviction in plane hijacking case and default case respectively ordered to lift the ban from them.

March 29th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Late night calls from the United States and UK helped President Asif Ali Zardari to bring sanity to the troubled political proceedings in Pakistan during his address to the joint sitting of Parliament. Zardari portrayed himself as a hawk-turned-peacemaker on Saturday but the script is understood to have been handed over to him by the Americans and the British.

March 28th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and deposed Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif have filed a petition in the Supreme Court pleading to the apex court to make them parties in the disqualification revision petitions' hearings. Advocates Abid Hassan Manto and Khawaja Haris filed the petition on behalf of the leaders, and also urged the court to declare the earlier ex-party decision as obsolete.

March 22nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz will not pressurize the PPP Government to lift Governor's Rule in Punjab before the Supreme Court's verdict on a review petition against the disqualification of the Sharif brothers, the Daily Times has reported. There is a tacit understanding between the PML-n and Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani following the successful lawyers' March and the restoration of the judiciary, sources said.

March 20th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan government has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court challenging the apex court's verdict which disqualified the former Pakistan Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif from contesting elections. According to The News, the petition was filed by the Attorney General of Pakistan, Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa.

March 17th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A review petition will be filed on the disqualification case of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother following the government's decision to reinstate deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Pakistan's Attorney General Latif Khosa has directed the deputy attorney general to file a review petition in the Sharif brothers' eligibility case, Geo TV channel said.

March 15th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Government has decided to restore the deposed judges in the light of Charter of Democracy. It will also file a review petition in the Supreme Court on disqualification of Sharif brothers.

March 14th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - PML-N Senator Ishaq Dar has claimed that as per information about 200 criminals have been sent to Punjab with the target to assassinate the Sharif brothers on the whim of some high official of the PPP-led Government. Speaking after the election of chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate, Dar criticised the government for arresting party leaders including Raja Zafarul Haq and Zafar Ali Shah, in violation of the statement of the Interior Advisor that no directive has been issued to arrest people.

March 12th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Interior Ministry has expressed fears of a possible attack on PML-N leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif. According to The News, the Sharif brothers have been asked to discontinue their spate of public rallies, as they could be targeted during such events.

February 27th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan government has convened a session of the National Assembly Saturday to discuss the crisis arising from the Supreme Court decision barring former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif from contesting elections. The federal cabinet took the decision at a meeting here Friday.

February 26th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan teetered on the brink of political crisis Wednesday after the Supreme Court barred former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from contesting the polls and also declared null and void the election of his brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. The verdict led to the fall of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government in the country's most politically consequential province.

February 26th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan teetered on the brink of political crisis Wednesday after the Supreme Court barred former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from contesting the polls and also declared null and void the election of his brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. The verdict led to the fall of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government in the country's most politically consequential province.

February 26th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Supreme Court Wednesday barred former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from contesting elections and declared null and void the election of his younger brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, leading to the fall of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government in the country's most politically consequential province. Protests broke out all over Pakistan, particularly in the politically influential province of Punjab, the power base of the PML-N.

February 26th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif Wednesday accused President Asif Ali Zardari of offering him and his brother a 'business deal' in return for letting the duo off in an election disqualification case. 'An emissary came to me and asked me to stop pushing for the reinstatement of the judges (then president Pervez Musharraf had sacked after imposing an emergency in November 2007),' Sharif said at a press conference here.

February 25th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Supreme Court Wednesday barred former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from contesting an elected office and declared the election of his younger brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, null and void. This has led to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government in Punjab being dissolved.