Pakistan's Supreme Court disqualified deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif from holding office for life on Friday, television news channels reported.

Sharif, 67, resigned in July after the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding office over an undeclared source of income, but the veteran leader maintains his grip on the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.

Friday's ruling addressed an ambiguity over Sharif's disqualification and whether he was barred from office for life or a specific period.

The verdict was issued unanimously by all five judges of the bench while hearing a case related to determination of time duration for disqualification of a lawmaker under the Constitution, the Dawn reported.

The court had grappled with Article 62(1)(f) which only stated that a lawmaker is disqualified under specified conditions but did not set out the duration of the disqualification.

Article 62, which sets the precondition for a member of parliament to be “sadiq and ameen” (honest and righteous), is the same provision under which Sharif, 68, was disqualified on July 28, 2017, in the Panama Papers case.

Likewise, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Tareen was disqualified on December 15 last year by a separate bench of the apex court under the same provision.

Following the verdict, both Sharif and Tareen have become ineligible to ever hold public office.

It has been stated in the decision read out by Justice Umar Ata Bandial that the disqualification of any member of parliament or a public servant under Article 62 in the future will be permanent. Such a person cannot contest elections or become a member of parliament.

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