Dasti declared disqualified by Supreme Court

A brief viva voce conducted by a Supreme Court judges on Thursday confirmed that Jamshed Ahmed Dasti, PPP member of National Assembly from NA-178, (Muzaffarghar-III) and Chairman National Assembly's Standing Committee on Sports, knew nothing about the subject or syllabus of the degree he claimed to have taken from a seminary, which led to his resignation.
Headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, a six-member bench of the apex court declared Dasti disqualify from holding the office due to his fake degree/Sanad, by dint of which he contested elections in 2008. The bench directed Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to de-notify Dasti within three days and hold by-elections in the constituency.
The court also struck down a decision of Lahore High Court (LHC) that dismissed a petition seeking disqualification of Jamshed Ahmed Dasti. "How can a member of the assembly, possessing fake and forged documents, engage in law making," questioned the bench while asking the Returning Officers to check documents at the time of submission.
The condition of graduation for legislators was imposed by former President Pervez Musharraf in 2002, and Article 8(A) of the Chief Executive Order No 17, Section 99 (1)(CC) was inserted into the Representation of People's Act 1976, requiring a contesting candidate to be at least a graduate in any discipline or holder of a degree recognised by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
Due to the introduction of the condition, many contestants became ineligible for participating in the elections. It ultimately led them to find way out to overcome this barrier. As it is difficult to get a fake degree from any university, religious institutions presented an easy solution.
However, in April 2008 (after the general elections), a bench headed by former Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar scrapped the graduation condition for legislators declaring it a negation of fundamental rights, as enshrined in the Constitution. Nawabzada Iftikhar Ahmed, a contesting candidate from NA-178 had challenged the candidature of Jamshed Dasti, while contending that he suffered pre-election disqualification since his academic degrees were fake and forged.
Jamshed Dasti was quizzed by the members of the bench when he appeared before the court on Thursday. Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday noted that Dasti had a degree from a religious institute therefore, he must have good knowledge of his subject. But Dasti could not answer even questions like number of verses and Surrahs in the Holy Quran. He could not tell when he began the course and when he completed it and the subjects he had studied.
"You are a representative of the people, why do you indulge in corrupt practices?" observed Justice Ramday adding is Islam and the name of Allah up for defamation. The Chief Justice termed it a sensitive matter saying today Dasti was a member of the Parliament and could also become the Prime Minister in future.
Justice Khilji Arif Hussain said he could well be the reason for everyone to disrespect the Parliament. The court suggested that Dasti think over the matter and tender his resignation, while observing if the court passed any order it could be damaging for his political career. Meanwhile, following the footprints of Jamshed Dasti, PML-Q member of National Assembly from NA-167, (Vehari-I) Nazeer Ahmed Jutt also resigned when Deputy Secretary Education informed the court that he had a fake degree.
The six-judge bench hearing election petitions also issued notice to a PPP Punjab Assembly member from PP-259 (Muzaffarghar-IX), Allah Wasaya alias Chunnu Khan Leghari, to appear before the court on March 30 for proving genuineness of his graduation degree. Wasaya had a graduation degree from Islamia University Bahawalpur, however, Ashraf Javed, Deputy Controller of the University told the court that the degree has been cancelled due to bogus certificates of intermediate.