Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Monday began hearings that will decide the future of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is fighting for his job and contesting a damning corruption report by an investigative panel. “It hurts that despite of our hard work, attempts are afoot once again to push the country back,” Sharif told a meeting of his ruling PML-N parliamentary party over the weekend. Sharif in April narrowly escaped disqualification after the Supreme Court ruled there was insufficient evidence to remove him — by a 2-3 split — over documents released by the Panama Papers leak into off-shore wealth. He was originally nurtured by the military as a civilian politician who would protect their interests, and he served as prime minister twice in the 1990s. But relations soured and his second stint as prime minister ended when he was ousted in a 1999 coup leading to a decade of exile.

Source: Dhaka Tribune July 17, 2017 06:45 UTC