Islamabad: Pakistan`s Supreme Court on Friday disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over long-running corruption allegations, a decision that forces him out of office.
Nawaz Sharif "stands disqualified", the SC said in its highly anticipated ruling over the allegations stemming from the Panama Papers leak last year, which linked the premier`s family to lucrative offshore businesses.
The legal proceedings against the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) government had gripped Pakistan, where politicians are seldom subjected to the kind of scrutiny undergone by the premier.
With his disqualification, Sharif has gone down in the history of Pakistan as yet another PM who failed to finish his stint.
Notably, no Pakistani prime minister has completed a full term in power since independence in 1947.
A look at Pakistan's not-so-stable political history:
- Pakistan’s first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan, who had assumed the post on August 15, 1947, was assassinated in Rawalpindi on October 16, 1951.
- Second PM Khawaja Nazimuddin was shown the door by Governor General Ghulam Muhammad on April 17, 1953.
- Muhammad Ali Bogra was also dismissed by Ghulam Muhammad in 1954. Although he was again appointed as the PM but he was later dismissed by Governor General Iskender Mirza in 1955.
- Chaudhary Muhammad Ali resigned on September 12, 1956, due to his conflict with Iskender Mirza.
- Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, the leader of Awami League, was removed form the office in 1957, due to differences with Iskander Mirza.
- Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar, appointed by Iskander Mirza, remained PM for around two months. He resigned from the post in December 1957.
- Feroz Khan Noon was dismissed after Martial Law was declared in 1958 by Ayub Khan.
- Nurul Amin served in office only 13 days in December 1971.
- Zulfikar Ali Bhutto succeeded to power. He remained President under special arrangement till 1973 Constitution was passed. He later resigned as president to become the prime minister of Pakistan. He contested elections in 1977 and won, but was deposed the same year through coup d'état by General Muhammad Ziaul Haq. He was hanged in 1979. Zia himself stayed in power for 11 years until his death in 1988.
- Muhammad Khan Junejo was elected as PM of Pakistan in 1985 non-party elections. His government was dismissed on May 29, 1988.
- Benazir Bhutto assumed power as PM on December 02, 1988. President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismissed Bhutto’s government on August 06, 1990.
- Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi was appointed by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan as a caretaker Prime Minister.
- Nawaz Sharif became the PM for the first time in October 1990. His government was dismissed by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan in 1993; however, the Supreme Court reinstated it later. The then Army Chief Waheed Kakar forced both Nawaz Sharif and Ghulam Ishaq Khan to resign on July 18, 1993.
- Moeenuddin Ahmad Qureshi was appointed as the caretaker Prime Minister following Sharif's resignation.
- Benazir Bhutto again became PM of Pakistan in 1993. However, the then president Farooq Laghari dismissed her government in November 1996.
- Nawaz Sharif again became PM of Pakistan in 1997. On October 12, 1999, General Pervez Musharraf threw Nawaz Sharif out of the power and imposed Martial law in the entire county.
- PMs who served the office under the dictator Musharraf were - Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali for 19 months, Chaudhary Shujaat for two months, Shaukat Aziz (August 20, 2004 to November 16, 2007) and Muhammad Mian Soomro (November 16, 2007 to March 28, 2008)
- In 2008 General Elections, PPP won, paving the way for Yousaf Raza Gilani to take the PM post. However, Gilani was disqualified from his seat in Parliament in 2012 by the Supreme Court.
- The remaining term of PPP government was completed by Raja Pervaiz Ashraf who held the office till March 2013.
- Nawaz Sharif became the PM for the third time in 2013 but as he entered the last year of his tenure, he was disqualified by the SC in Panamagate.
