ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will face multiple legal challenges to get his corruption conviction overturned and regain eligibility for the upcoming January polls, legal experts warned Friday, though his party expects him to spearhead its election campaign without major hindrance following his return from self-exile on October 21.

Pakistan’s apex court disqualified Sharif from holding public office for life in April 2018, asking him to step down from the top political office of the country due to corruption allegations. The ruling effectively ended the ex-premier’s political future who was later sentenced to 10 and seven years in prison with a collective financial penalty of $35.5 million in two separate graft cases.

However, he denied any wrongdoing and consistently called his conviction politically motivated.

The three-time prime minister managed to secure an eight-week for medical treatment from a local court shortly after beginning to serve his term before leaving for London in an air ambulance in November 2019. Since then, he remained in Britain and only recently announced his homecoming ahead of the national elections next year.

“Nawaz Sharif will land in [the eastern city of] Lahore on October 21 to address a mammoth public gathering and will lead the election campaign of his party,” Tallal Chaudhry, joint secretary of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, told Arab News.

He claimed the former premier would contest the upcoming polls since “all legal hurdles will be removed with his homecoming.”

Chaudhry said PML-N’s legal team was evaluating all possible obstacles Sharif could face upon his return to the country to devise its strategy.

“Sharif will face the courts as required by Pakistan’s legal and judicial system to get a clean chit in all the sham cases,” he continued.

Asked about the former prime minister’s lifetime disqualification from holding public office, the PML-N joint secretary referred to a recent law passed by parliament that limited the disqualification period of lawmakers to five years.

“According to this law, he is eligible to contest the elections and hold public office,” he added.

Legal experts, however, said that Sharif would not be able to contest the election unless his conviction in the corruption cases was suspended or overturned by the Islamabad High Court.

“Nawaz Sharif is a convict and Pakistani law bars a convicted person from contesting elections or holding public office,” Ali Bukhari, a senior advocate, told Arab News. “He can contest the election only if his conviction was suspended.”

He said legal precedents were available where Pakistani courts had suspended or overturned convictions of people in different cases.

“The latest law dealing with the question of a lawmaker’s disqualification has already set a timeframe of five years,” Bukhari continued. “So, Nawaz Sharif will effectively be eligible to contest the election [with his conviction suspended].”

Advocate Salahuddin Ahmed noted Pakistani courts had granted protective bails in different cases to convicts and absconders in the past.

“If past precedents are anything to go by, Sharif should easily be able to secure protective bail to avoid arrest,” he told Arab News.

However, he said that courts usually granted protective bails from two days to three weeks.

“The real challenge for Sharif will be to get his sentence suspended before the expiry of his bail,” he added. “Otherwise, he will be arrested and sent to jail.”

Barrister Ahmad Pansota said that multiple legal challenges were awaiting the former prime minister upon his return to Pakistan, including the question of his eligibility to contest the polls.

“First of all, he will have to surrender himself to a court after his arrival to secure a pre-arrest bail and then file an application for suspension of his conviction,” he told Arab News.

Pansota acknowledged Sharif could benefit from the new legislation limiting the disqualification period to five years, though he maintained the ex-PM would have to undergo a long legal battle to make that happen.

“This matter will ultimately land in the Supreme Court for adjudication, where judges will decide whether the top court’s ruling to disqualify Sharif for life should prevail, or if the new disqualification law should be applied to his case,” he added.