The Prime Minsiter of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, could be disqualified from office in a contempt of court case which is getting under way in the Supreme Court.

Last November the case became the focus of a constitutional crisis in Pakistan.

It resulted in the resignation of President Farooq Leghari and the removal of the Chief Justice Sajjid Ali Shah by his fellow Supreme Court judges.

Mr Sharif is charged with making derogatory remarks about the former Chief Justice and the Supreme Court after it suspended one of the government's constitutional ammendments last October.

The crisis

Nawaz: faces disqualification

Nawaz Sharif called the Supreme Court's move illegal and unconstitutional.

He was so worried about being found guilty of contempt that he used his majority in Parliament to approve changes to the law to make it easier for him to appeal if he was convicted.

The president at the time, Farooq Leghari, said he would not sign the changes into law just to benefit one individual and warned of the dangers of personal dictatorship.

After a series of events, which included the storming of the Supreme Court building by a group of Nawaz Sharif's supporters, the president resigned and the chief justice was removed from office.

Leghari: resigned over crisis

Nawaz Sharif said they had been conspiring to get rid of him. They accused him of destroying the country's institutions to try to save himself.

Although the President and the Chief Justice have been replaced, Nawaz Sharif still has to win important battles before he can put the crisis finally behind him.

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