The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday disqualified Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Chaudhry Kashif Mehmood from Punjab for possessing a fake degree. A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Aamer Farooq announced the verdict of disqualifying the MPA in the court and also directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to de-seat the lawmaker.
Justice Farooq announced the verdict which the court had reserved on November 5 after the completion of arguments from both the sides. The petition was filed by Abdul Ghaffar that sought disqualification of Mehmood as he had allegedly contested the 2018 general election on the basis of a fake educational degree.
Previously, a private university declared that the MPA of PML-N from Bahawalnagar Kashif holds a bogus degree of Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA). The university on the directive of the IHC had submitted a report about the authenticity of the MPA's educational credentials. In its report the university said that Mahmood had never been its student.
Abdul Ghaffar, a resident of the Bahawalnagar district, filed the petition and cited the provincial assembly's secretary, Punjab Assembly's speaker, MPA Mahmood and the ECP as respondents. The ECP counsel Sanaullah Zahid had suggested to the IHC that the educational credentials of the lawmaker should be verified from the university.
In its report, the university stated, "The university has thoroughly checked the academic record of Kashif Mahmood, son of Khalid Mahmood, from admission, registration, examination and accounts branches, whether he was student of this university in the discipline of "Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) or otherwise".
It added, "The record held in the university reveals that Kashif Mahmood, son of Khalid Mahmood, has neither been student of Al-Khair University Bhimber (AJK) nor graduated in the course of Bachelor of Business Administration."
The petitioner adopted in his petition that the MPA had submitted a fake bachelor's degree to the ECP to participate in the 2018 general election. He also concealed the facts from the ECP as he did not mention his disqualification in 2013 election in the affidavit submitted along with the nomination form, the petitioner added.
The petition said that in 2018 general election, amongst others, Mahmood had participated as a contesting candidate of the PML-N. The ECP declared him as returned candidate for PP-241 Bahawalnagar-V.
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