Panamagate timeline: Nawaz Sharif ousted as PM - again

Three of Sharif's four children were implicated in the Panama Papers

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from public office over long-running corruption allegations, a decision that ousts him from the premiership for the third time in a chequered political career.

"He is disqualified as a member of the parliament so he has ceased to be holding the office of Prime Minister," Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan told the packed courtroom in Islamabad.

As the verdict was announced opposition supporters erupted in applause, rushing into the street chanting slogans and handing out sweets in celebration.

Panamagate timeline

- The controversy erupted last year with the publication of 11.5 million secret documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca documenting the offshore dealings of many of the world's rich and powerful.
- Three of Sharif's four children - Maryam and his sons Hasan and Hussein - were implicated in the papers.
- At the heart of the case is the legitimacy of the funds used by the Sharif family to purchase several high-end London properties via offshore companies.
- The push against Sharif has been spearheaded by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party.
- The PML-N insists the wealth was acquired legally, through Sharif family businesses in Pakistan and the Gulf.
- Sharif addressed the nation by television to defend his family's business practices, denying any wrongdoing and calling corruption claims "old accusations repeated over and over again". Sets up a commission to investigate allegations.
- Khan rejected the terms of reference (TOR) of the judicial commission.
- Imran Khan vows to go ahead with Islamabad 'lockdown'.
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- Supreme Court orders corruption probe against Sharif and family
- Earlier in 2017, the Supreme Court in April declared there was "insufficient evidence" to oust Sharif over the graft allegations engulfing his family, and ordered an investigation team to probe the matter.

- The team of civilian and military investigators found there was a "significant disparity" between the Sharif family's income and lifestyle in its report, which was released to the public and submitted to the court earlier this month.

- The findings sparked an uproar, including the claim that documents regarding Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz and her link to some of the family's London properties were "falsified" - dated 2006, but typed in Microsoft's Calibri font, which was not released for commercial use until 2007.

- The Sharifs and their allies have consistently and noisily rejected the claims against them, with his ruling PML-N party this month dismissing the investigation team's report as "trash".
- Supreme Court reserved its judgment earlier in July, after hearing arguments of all parties on the Joint Investigation Team's report submitted.
- Pakistan's top court disqualifies Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office on July 28.

- Sharif relinquishes his charge as prime minister after learning that the SC disqualified him.

- The court also disqualified Finance Minister Ishaq Dar
The decision brings to an unceremonious end Sharif's third term in power, roughly one year before scheduled general elections which would have seen him become the first Pakistani prime minister to complete a full five-year term.
Sharif has not yet completed a term as prime minister, having been removed in his second term by a military coup in 1999.

• Pakistan