The Latest: Sharif supporters in rally in Pakistani capital
The Latest on developments in Pakistan politics (all times local) :
5: 30 p.m.
Hundreds of supporters of deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have rallied in the capital against his disqualification by the country’s highest court.
The demonstrators Saturday marched on a key road in Islamabad and chanted slogans in favor of Sharif before peacefully dispersing.
The rally came a day after Pakistan’s Supreme Court removed Sharif from office after finding that he and his family concealed their assets.
Sharif’s supporters have held similar small rallies in the eastern city of Lahore from where he won the 2013 parliamentary elections.
The rally also came after opposition leader Imran Khan asked his supporters to reach Islamabad on Sunday to celebrate Sharif’s removal. Khan had led dozens of protest rallies in recent years to pressure Sharif to resign on allegation of corruption.
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10: 45 a.m.
A top leader from the ruling party of deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says a meeting of the party’s lawmakers has been convened to consider who will be the country’s next premier.
The move comes after Sharif’s disqualification by the Pakistan Supreme Court over what Raja Zafarul Haq calls a “trivial allegation.” Haq said Sharif will attend Saturday’s meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League party.
Pakistan has been without a prime minister since the Supreme Court removed Sharif from office Friday, claiming he had not been “truthful and honest.”
The ruling plunged Pakistan into political turmoil, although judges asked the country’s figurehead president to “ensure continuation of the democratic process.”
In 2016, documents leaked from a Panama-based law firm indicated Sharif’s sons owned several offshore companies.
