Pakistan's three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been removed from office for a fourth time -- a fate all too common for civilian leaders in a country that has been ruled by the military for almost half of its 70-year existence.
Sharif was evicted from office on July 26, not by soldiers in khaki uniforms but by judges in black robes. After a lengthy investigation triggered by disclosures of the offshore accounts of Sharif's children in the Panama Papers -- a mass of legal documents leaked on the internet last year -- the Supreme Court disqualified him from office on the basis of obscure clauses in the Pakistani constitution that require holders of public office to be "honest" and "trustworthy."
