ISLAMABAD: If the Supreme Court disqualifies Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for alleged corruption and money laundering in the Court-sensitive Panama Papers case, then his younger brother and Punjab Province Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif can take his place. This is said in the media report in Pakistan. Shahbaz is not a member of the lower house of the National Assembly, so he cannot take his place immediately and he will have to contest elections.

Referring to sources, Geo News quoted sources as saying that till the selection of Shahbaz by-election, Defense Minister Khwaja Asif is likely to take over as Interim Prime Minister for 45 days. This decision was taken at a high level meeting of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) on Friday (June 21). During the meeting, it was decided that if the decision comes against the Prime Minister, then the party will use all the available legal and constitutional options.

This meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Sharif. In this meeting, the team of law experts representing Shahbaz, Federal Ministers, advisers and Sharif family in the Panama Papers case participated. After reviewing the Supreme Court's decision in the meeting, the situation was reviewed. According to sources, the team of legal experts informed the Prime Minister Sharif about the situation in the Panama Papers case.

Asif denied these media reports on a talk show. He said, 'The whole party is standing behind the leadership of Nawaz Sharif. There is no candidate for the post of prime minister. There was no talk in the meeting on this matter. "It is noteworthy that the Supreme Court had completed the hearing on Friday (July 21) in connection with alleged corruption against Sharif and his family in the Panama Papers case, but he reserved his decision, That can put Sharif's political future in jeopardy.

In the chairmanship of Justices Ejaz Afzal, the bench of three judges did not order any date immediately to pronounce their verdict. The Supreme Court had formed a six-member JIT to investigate allegations of money laundering on 67-year-old Sharif and his family. It was to investigate where the money came from where the Sharif family bought the properties in London in the 1990s.

JIT had recommended that the tenth volume of the report be kept confidential as it contains details of correspondence with other countries. So far Sharif has denied stepping out of power. The federal cabinet last week approved its decision to stay in power.

About The Author

Chetan Sharma is an Indian fact-checker and news writer, writing news for Ayupp since 2014.

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