Exit of Nawaz Sharif

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been disqualified by the Pakistan Supreme Court from holding the office of the prime minister on the issue of his family's offshore assets which came to light with the Panama Papers leaks. We appreciate the verdict for two reasons. It has demonstrated the independence of the judiciary in Pakistan as well as the assertion of the rule of law. At the same time we laud the executive's respect for the judiciary in accepting the verdict of the court and avoiding a potentially politically destabilising situation had Sharif chosen not to accept the ruling. Ironically, no prime minister of Pakistan has been able to complete his full term in office; for Nawaz Sharif, who has been haunted by allegations of corruption during all his three tenures, and chose to take no notice of it, this is his third unceremonious exit from office.

Pakistan is going through a crucial phase in its politics, and we hope the political transition will follow the democratic norms and that democracy will not be subverted, despite the situation created by Sharif's departure, by any extraneous influence.

The Panama leaks were an international affair that went beyond the former Pakistani premier. It toppled Icelandic prime minister from office and the former British prime minister had to face severe scrutiny about tax disclosures. And it is here that we would like to take note of the fact that some Bangladeshi citizens and corporations were also named in the exposé. We wonder if there has been any progress of the probe into the disclosure, because it reconfirms the allegation of money laundering from Bangladesh by people with huge amount of illegally amassed money.