KARACHI, Pakistan - Former Pakistani foreign minister Khawaja Asif will be allowed to contest a July 25 general election after the Supreme Court on Friday overturned his disqualification from politics, in a boost to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. Asif, a staunch ally of ousted prime minister and PML-N founder Nawaz Sharif, was disqualified from parliament by a lower court in April as he was deemed not 'honest' under a constitutional provision also used to oust Sharif. Asif was removed for not declaring his employment and a source income from a United Arab Emirates (UAE) company, but the top court overturned the earlier ruling, which carried a lifetime ban from politics. 'God has granted mercy on a sinner like me, there is no count of God's blessings. I am thankful to the judiciary,' Khawaja Asif tweeted shortly after the verdict was announced.
