Pakistan Friday continued in its tradition of having no civilian prime minister complete his term after the Supreme Court disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from holding public office following an investigation into corruption allegations.
Sharif who is leading Pakistan for the third time as prime minister, was less than a year from becoming the first to complete a full term in office.
The ruling comes after a probe into his family’s wealth following the 2015 Panama Papers dump linking Mr Sharif’s children to offshore companies.
Sharif has consistently denied any wrongdoing in the case.
The verdict was handed down unanimously by a five-member bench in the court.
The court was filled to capacity on Friday, and there was heightened security in the capital, with tens of thousands of troops and police deployed.
One of the judges at the Supreme Court, Ejaz Afzal Khan, said that Mr Sharif was no longer “eligible to be an honest member of the parliament”, Reuters news agency reports.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan earlier advised Mr Sharif to accept Friday’s verdict.
The court has recommended anti-corruption cases against several individuals, including Mr Sharif, his daughter Maryam and her husband Safdar, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and others.
