'Decision' to disqualify Nawaz Sharif taken before SC verdict, PTI lawyer claims

"Dawn leaks had taken place [...] and if we look at the events that follow it in chronological order, then we can understand that the decision had been made to dismiss Nawaz," he told Geo News' Hamid Mir on Tuesday.

Hamid's revelation is a significant development as his party, led by PTI Chairman Imran Khan, has been at loggerheads with the PML-N since its ouster from the government in April last year.

The legal expert, who has represented PTI Chairman Imran Khan in several cases, said amid the decision to dismiss Nawaz, coincidentally, the Panama Papers exposé also came to the fore.

He did not specify who had decided to send Nawaz, a three-time prime minister, packing and having him disqualified as a parliamentarian for a lifetime.

Noting that it wasn't decided that the matter would be taken up by the courts, he reminded the host that Former chief justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali was not interested in taking up such cases.

"Justice Jamali had stated that he did not want to be involved in any political matter," Hamid said.

"However, gradually, the Supreme Court had gotten involved in the issues [...] and the ends were met through the judiciary," the legal expert added.

The show host then asked Hamid whether it was correct to assume that the decision to disqualify Nawaz was already made prior to the verdict and that the judiciary was used: "Absolutely, this is what it seems like."

The lawyer said: "The chain of events leads one to believe that his disqualification was pre-decided."

"Maybe Nawaz believed that he was good at handling courts, but later, he realised that the issue was out of his hands," the PTI lawyer added.

In a landmark decision on the Panama Papers case, the Supreme Court disqualified the three-time prime minister on July 28, 2017, for being "dishonest" under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution.

The PML-N has repeatedly contested that Nawaz was unjustly disqualified.