Will challenge disqualification verdict: Nawaz Sharif

Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Sunday that he plans to challenge the disqualification verdict for him, while addressing a rally in  Mansehra in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 

"This law, this decision [to disqualify] would have to be taken to the assembly and changed. For that, I will need your vote," The Dawn reported Nawaz, as saying.

Sharif and former general secretary of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Jahangir Khan Tareen were disqualified last month by Pakistan's Supreme Court from contesting elections for the rest of their lives. 

A five-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Saqib Nisar, gave the unanimous verdict on several identical petitions pertaining to the duration of disqualification of a politician under Article 62(1)(f) of the Pakistan Constitution, reported Samaa TV.

The Article 62(1)(f) reads, "A person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) unless he is sagacious, righteous and non-profligate, honest and righteous, there being no declaration to the contrary by a court of law."

On Sunday, the PTI chief, who seeks to become Pakistan's next prime minister, launched his party's campaign for the July elections

Meanwhile, condemning the disqualification of former Pakistan foreign minister Khawaja Asif, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the country which does not respect its politicians can never progress.

Abbasi while addressing a ceremony in Pakistan's Pasrur said that politicians must get the same amount of respect as judges, generals, and government officials.