Zehri faces referral to chief poll commissioner
“The minister was served a final notice but he did not show up. It is now assumed that he has nothing to say in his defence and his case will be referred to the chief election commissioner,” remarked Election Commission officer Muhammad Afzal Khan during the proceedings.
Zehri was among nine public representatives who were called by the Election Commission to appear before its nominated officer to explain their position on allegedly having falsified their academic degrees. Representatives of five lawmakers were present at the hearing while just one of the nine lawmakers summoned, appeared in person. Provincial legislators Sardar Ali and Shama Parveen Magsi were the other two besides Lehri who did not appear before the commission. Sardar Ali will be issued another notice to explain his position at the next hearing which is scheduled after Eidul Fitr while Shama Parveen Magsi had sent an application in advance seeking adjournment and expressing her inability to attend the hearing.
Representatives of Livestock Minister Humayun Aziz Kurd, MNAs Akhundzada Chatan and Syed Muhammad Salman Mohsin, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly members Gulistan Khan and Syed Aqil Shah appeared before the commission’s officer and sought adjournment, requesting the officer to provide them copies of the parliamentarian’s degrees declared fake by the Higher Education Commission. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly deputy Maulvi Obaidullah, who appeared in person, made the same request.
Barrister Gohar Ali, who appeared before the poll commission officer as a counsel for Akhunzada Chatan, however challenged the jurisdiction of the commission’s nominated officer to take up criminal proceedings and claimed that the forum was not acting in accordance with the mandate given to it by the Supreme Court. He said a show cause notice had not been issued to his client and the letter sent to him seeking his appearance had no legal binding.
Ali claimed that the degree declared fake by the HEC was not that of Akuhnzada Chatan. He was however politely told that the Election Commission officer was not conducting criminal proceedings and the hearing was meant to be an opportunity for the lawmakers to defend themselves before cases were referred to the concerned district and sessions judge for criminal proceedings.
Senator Muhabbat Khan Marri from Balochistan voluntarily attended the proceedings and presented original degrees besides producing copies of all of his academic certificates along with a verification certificate of his degree by Punjab University.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th, 2010.
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