Global Courant
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s National Assembly has passed legislation limiting how long lawmakers can be removed from office, a state spokesman said on Tuesday.
Sharif served as Prime Minister of Pakistan three times, most recently before being ousted in 2017 over corruption charges.
The Supreme Court banned him from politics for life and he was later sentenced to seven years in prison.
In 2019, he was granted medical bail and flew to Britain, where he has remained ever since, continuing to direct the family-run Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party behind the scenes.
His brother Shehbaz Sharif became prime minister in 2022 and the country will hold new general elections in October at the latest.
On Tuesday, a government spokesman said the acting president had signed an amendment to the law stating that courts can only disqualify parliamentarians “for a maximum period of five years”.
The spokesman said Senate President Sadiq Sanjrani signed the bill as acting president on Monday, in the absence of President Arif Alvi, who is on a pilgrimage abroad.
“The ruling PML-N and its coalition partners want to bring back Nawaz Sharif,” political analyst Hasan Askari told AFP. “The bill was passed to achieve this goal.”
“Nawaz Sharif will be the main campaigner for PML-N in the next election,” he added. “His return will help the party politically, but it is not clear whether he himself will participate in the elections.”
Mr Sharif continues to face the corruption case in which he was convicted during the tenure of his successor, Imran Khan, who won power and pledged to undo the corruption that has historically plagued the country.
But in Pakistan, lawsuits ensnaring opposition politicians are regularly reversed once their party is back in office.
Mr. Shehbaz Sharif ousted Khan in April 2022 through a vote of no confidence. However, he heads a shaky coalition of parties, while Khan remains wildly popular in the poll countdown.
Khan has called for an early election, but his campaign has been bogged down in dozens of lawsuits.
