Islamabad - Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted a ban on opposition leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from contesting elections.

Justice Tasadaq Hussain, the head of five-member bench of the apex court, while reading out a short order said that the previous rulings disqualifying Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif from elections are "set aside."

A February 25 verdict by the Supreme Court barring the two brothers from contesting parliamentary elections and holding public office sparked protests in Punjab, the country's most populace province and a stronghold of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

"Justice was bound to happen ... however, instead of being triumphant we are grateful to God," Nawaz Sharif told reporters at his residence in Lahore, the capital of Punjab. (dpa)