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A 24-year-old petition seeking Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's permanent disqualification from holding public office over money laundering and having assets worth billions of rupees abroad has been dismissed by a court here.
A five-member larger bench of the Lahore High Court headed by Justice Muhammad Farrukh Irfan Khan dismissed the plea to disqualify Sharif, declaring it as "inadmissible".
"We are not afraid of the Prime Minister, the President, Ministers and bureaucrats. The judge who performs his duty honestly will get a top place in heaven and a dishonest judge will burn in hell," Justice Khan said while hearing the arguments on the maintainability of the petition.
Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffery, a counsel for petitioner Ali Imran, said Sharif should have been stopped 24 years ago from contesting elections for transferring money of this country abroad.
Jaffery said 65-year-old Sharif was not eligible to hold the post of Prime Minister as he has assets worth billions of rupees abroad.
"Prime Minister Sharif should be declared disqualified as he does meet the legal requirement under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution," he argued.
The petition was filed against Sharif in 1991 when he was serving his first term as Prime Minister.
Sharif won the general elections in 2013 by an overwhelming majority to become Prime Minister.
The Lahore High Court on May 6 took up the 24-year-old petition seeking disqualification of Sharif and constituted a larger bench to hear the case.
According to the law of the country, cases involving high-profile individuals such as the Prime Minister require a bench comprising at least five judges.
