Court lifts Sharif election ban

Pakistan's Supreme Court has overturned a ban that prevented opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz from running for political office.

The ruling means Mr Sharif will be able to stand in elections due in 2013 or a parliamentary by-election before then.

The former prime minister and leader of the PML-N party is one of the most popular politicians in the country.

Mr Sharif's ban related to old convictions which he has always said were politically motivated.

He lost power in a bloodless coup led by then army chief Pervez Musharraf in 1999, and was forced into exile a year later in Saudi Arabia.

But in November 2007 Mr Sharif was allowed to fly back to Pakistan, and helped force President Musharraf from office in 2008.

'Justice'

Sharif supporters broke into cheers soon after the Supreme Court made its judgement on Tuesday and began dancing to drums outside the court premises.

"The decisions of the court must be acceptable to the people," Mr Sharif told a Lahore press conference soon after the ruling.

"I salute the people of Pakistan who have freed the judiciary.

"We want a system based on justice, and for that to happen democracy must now deliver." ...

Read more @ BBC News

Very disappointing decision. I guess this is what you call political payback from the supreme court for the Sharif's supporting the judge during his time away...

And the people cheer another corrupt individual. Its like they want to be robbed and enjoy it.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

There are probably loads who are not corrupt - simple because if they tried it, people would laugh in their face. You need to have some sort of standing, authority before you can abuse it.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

That was a different time - but there was still turmoil. Not on the same scale though as the militants were allied with the government, not fighting it. The only fighting was sectarian, you know, shooting outside different sects mosques etc. "Becoz they're kafir innit".

But the ideology problem existed well before then, and also still exists int he not-taliban people. its a cancer that is endemic. Ask anyone and they will say "you need a little blood for the revolutions to occur".

When the scholars denounce the taliban, they denounce them with the angle that it was not their group that was given the power/authority etc, rather than a deep denouncing from their very souls. "It is bad that the government caved into the taliban - they are not representative. They should instead cave into us".

An interesting article on the BBC News website about Kohistan, a part of the malakand province where they asked for shariah back in 1994, got bit and now do not want to be included as part of the malakand province deal.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.