Two provincial assembly members from Punjab and Balochistan lost their seats on Friday when Supreme Court disqualified them on failure to prove the authenticity of their educational degrees/certificates. A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday disqualified Malik Yasir Raza of PML-N who had won elections from PP-13 Rawalpindi and Zahoor Hussain Khosa, member Balochistan assembly from PB-26 Jaffarabad-II.
In addition, the bench dismissed an appeal of Haji Muddsar Qayyum Nahra of PML-N, former MNA from NA-100 Gujranwala against his disqualification by upholding the decision of Lahore High Court (LHC). 'Zahoor Hussain Khosa is not graduate, hence not qualified to contest the elections. Consequently the notification declaring him successful is hereby set aside,' said a brief order of the court.
In addition, the court noted that Khosa had used fake documents/Sanad and presented himself as a candidate holding a degree equivalent to graduation. He is guilty of corrupt practices and proceedings be initiated against him under the law laid down in Rizwan Gill's case, directed the court.
When counsel for Zahoor Hussain Khosa requested the court not to take action against his client as he was ready to tender resignation, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday observed, 'please do not seek protection for the criminals.' Earlier, on July 27 the Higher Education Commission (HEC) had informed the court that it did not acknowledge the institution from where Zahoor Hussain Khosa had attained the sanad/certificate.
Haji Abdul Rehman Jamali, brother of former Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali had challenged the nomination of Zahoor Hussain Khan Khos saying Khosa did not fulfil the requisite qualification to become the member of the provincial assembly since the Sanad-ul-Faragh issued by the Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur (Sindh) was not equivalent to the Bachelor's degree and contrary to the requirements laid down under Section 8(a) of the Election Order 2007-08 as well as the provisions of Section 99 (cc) of the Representation of Peoples Act 1976.
While dealing with the case of Malik Yasir Raza of PML-N, the court upheld the decision of LHC, Rawalpindi Bench and dismissed his appeal against his disqualification. Earlier, on June 30, Justice Khwaja Imtiaz Ahmed of LHC's Rawalpindi bench in a short order had declared Malik Yasir Raza disqualified on a petition filed by Ishtiaq Mirza. The petition had challenged the validity of Raza's Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) obtained from the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education in 1995 and graduation degree along with matriculation certificate.
Waseem Sajjad, counsel for Malik Yasir Raza stated that he was not given opportunity to rebut the allegations levelled against him, therefore, an opportunity be given to him. The court observed that during the course of proceedings four witnesses were produced before the court but he (Malik Yasir Raza) did not dare to enter the witness box and disapproved the charges.
However, here in apex court you are claiming for an opportunity. Earlier, the court had asked the HEC whether it recognises the Malik Yasir Raza's graduation degree taken from Al-Khair University. After a perusal of the HEC report the court informed Waseem Sajjad that his client's graduation degree had also been cancelled on disapproval of his Intermediate degree by the LHC.
Comments
Comments are closed.