Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif would contest elections from the Mansehra region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,
his son-in-law Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar said on Wednesday.
Safdar, who hails from Mansehra and is
married to Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz, told the media that the 73-year-old
three-time former premier would submit his nomination papers for the National
Assembly seat “NA 15 Mansehra-cum-Torghar constituency” by December 21.
Mansehra is part of the Hazara division
which is considered a stronghold of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Sharif
is expected to contest from Lahore in addition to Mansehra.
Sharif, the only Pakistani politician
who became the PM of the coup-prone country for a record three times, returned
to Pakistan in October after a four-year self-imposed exile to lead his party
in the general elections.
Sharif, acquitted in the Avenfield and
Al Azizia cases by the Islamabad High Court, eyes a record fourth term as
premier in the next elections.
However, Sharif faces a big hurdle as he
remains disqualified from holding public office by the Supreme Court in the
Panama Papers case, and in a later judgment interpreting a provision of the
Constitution that involves honesty and trustworthiness – the top court ruled
that the disqualification is for life.
Earlier this year amendments were made
to the Elections Act, 2017 by the government led by Sharif’s younger brother
and PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif, limiting the disqualification of lawmakers
to five years with a retrospective effect.
The Supreme Court has decided to form a
larger bench to determine once and for all whether aspirants disqualified can
contest polls in light of the amendments in the Elections Act, 2017.
The case is expected to be decided
before elections scheduled to be held on February 8.
Earlier, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf
announced that its incarcerated founder leader Imran Khan would contest the
general elections from at least three seats.
PTI
