Terms over, but scrutiny of MPs continues

The national and provincial assemblies have been dissolved after completing their terms, but the work of the courts hearing petitions for the disqualification of outgoing parliamentarians continues.

In the last week, an MNA and an MPA have been disqualified, while another MPA has been given a clean chit. But what’s the point of disqualifying members when they have already had their five years? Why don’t the courts simply declare the petitions to be infructuous and consign them to history?

In order to clean up politics, in short. The disqualified members, having been proved, for example, to have committed a deception during the nomination process by submitting a bogus degree, will not be allowed to compete in the upcoming elections. By disqualifying the cheaters, the courts are performing an essential function in the democratic process.

The parliamentary casualties in the last week were Khadim Hussain Wattoo of the PML-Q, who had been elected from NA-188, Bahawalnagar. He was shown to have submitted a bogus degree.

Degree discrepancies also led to the disqualification of Farooq Yousaf Ghurki of the PPP, who had been elected from PP-159 Lahore. The Election Commission, the petitioner in the case, pointed out that he had sat his matriculation exams in 1990 and then his BA exams at Punjab University in 1992. The court agreed that he must have qualified for the BA on the basis of a bogus FA certificate, since he could not have completed both in just two years.

Malik Riaz of the PML-N, MNA from NA-118 Lahore, was cleared of charges that he too had a fake BA degree.

Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court is yet to decide a petition against former federal labour minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan, who is alleged to have used another person’s diploma, equivalent to intermediate, from the Punjab Board of Technical Education in order to sit his BA exams at Islamia University, Bahawalpur. Khan was elected to the National Assembly in 2002 but ran and lost in 2008. The court has extended his bail till March 29.

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The Lahore High Court made a wise decision this week by quietly disposing of a controversial and sensitive petition concerning Shoaib Mansoor’s movie Bol. The petitioner, a cleric, had sought the death penalty for the director and actors over remarks made by characters in the movie that he considered to be defamatory and derogatory. He had obtained edicts from various mullahs in support of his petition. He also took the opportunity to demand that television channels be banned from showing the movies The Message and The Ten Commandments. The High Court simply referred the matter to the Film Censor Board to decide.

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Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2013.