Pakistan court suspends ban on opposition leader

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's supreme court Tuesday suspended a ban on opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his brother from holding office and contesting elections, a lawyer said.

The court on February 25 disqualified Sharif and his brother Shahbaz from contesting elections and holding public office, a decision which caused widespread protests and flung the country into weeks of political chaos.

The government on March 19 filed appeals against the decision and has since reinstated supreme court chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in a package of measures designed to defuse the standoff.

"The supreme court has suspended the February 25 decision," Syed Zafar Ali Shah, a lawyer and leader in Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party, told reporters outside the court.