Judgment awaited: SHC reserves order in Shazia Marri degree case
Shazia Marri. PHOTO: FILE
The Sindh High Court (SHC) reserved on Thursday its order on a petition seeking disqualification of Pakistan Peoples Party leader Shazia Marri from the National Assembly's reserved seat for women on the basis of her alleged fake degree.
The petitioner, Atta Muhammad Chandio, who claims to be a registered voter of Sanghar, had taken Marri, along with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the Higher Education Commission, to court for misuse of a University of Karachi (KU) student's degree for Marri's selection as MNA.
He claimed that the lawmaker had received a BA degree in 2002 from Raunaq Islam College for Women, Lyari, affiliated with KU. However, Marri never attended this college, he alleged.
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That particular degree was in fact issued to another Shazia, daughter of Atta Muhammad, who was enrolled in KU on October 10, 1975, Chandio alleged. Meanwhile, Marri, daughter of Atta Muhammad Marri, was enrolled on October 8, 1972.
Rafiq Kalwat, the petitioner's lawyer, said there was no doubt that Marri had used a fake degree.
On Thursday, an SHC official submitted Marri's original nomination papers obtained from ECP on court orders. The bench, headed by Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, reserved its order after hearing arguments from all sides.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 19th, 2016.