Pakistan's former chief justice seeks disqualification of PM Nawaz Sharif

Lahore: Pakistan's former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on Tuesday filed a petition in the Lahore High Court seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for concealing his assets.

A single-member bench comprising Lahore High Court Chief Justice Mansoor Ali Shah will hear the petition on October 6.

In the petition comprising 460 pages, Chaudhry said the prime minister and his family members had "lied and concealed their assets" but the truth had been revealed in the Panama Papers.

The petitioner called for disqualification of the premier and his family for life.

Citing a Supreme Court judgement, the petitioner said it was compulsory for everyone to disclose his sources of accumulating his assets therefore the prime minister and his family were bound to reveal their sources of their offshore assets.

Chaudhry also questioned the details of assets given by the prime minster in his nomination papers.

He said the prime minister could be impeached for concealing his assets in the nomination papers.

However, he said, the speaker ignored all the facts and flatly dismissed the reference against the prime minister.

He also sought impugning the decision of National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq for dismissing his reference against the prime minister in violation of the Constitution.

He contended that the speaker did not cite any reason for dismissing the reference filed under Article 63 (2) of the Constitution.

The speaker did not answer at least 15 questions raised in the reference while the response given on some of the queries was out of context.

The petitioner pleaded the speaker did not enjoy judicial powers as he was supposed to forward the reference to election commission after a bare perusal of the document.

Chaudhry has nominated Prime Minister Sharif, Election Commission of Pakistan and the federal government as a party in the case.