Pakistan court bans ex-PM Sharif from elections for life

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has barred former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from running in elections for life, ruling on a petition asking the tribunal whether the disqualified premier could ever run again.

The court says that under the country’s constitution, no person once disqualified from office by the top court - as Sharif was - can hold public office again.

Friday’s ruling effectively ended Sharif's hopes for a political future after his dismissal last July on corruption charges, stemming from leaked documents known as the Panama Papers.

Since then, confusion has persisted about whether he can run for office again. A member of Sharif's ruling party, Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb, angrily dismissed the ruling as a “joke.”

The court also banned disqualified opposition politician Jahangir Tareen from running for office again.