Time’s up: Aqil Shah secures one-day reprieve from court

Decision on his alleged fake degree case expected today.

PESHAWAR:

The fake degree case against former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Sports Minister Syed Aqil Shah was prematurely adjourned on Wednesday after the latter’s counsel sought the court’s permission to present a related Peshawar High Court (PHC) judgment.

District and Sessions Judge Peshawar Shaibar Khan adjourned the case till Thursday (today) when Shah’s counsel asked permission to produce a PHC judgment which reportedly states only the unrecognised university should be held responsible for failing to meet the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) criteria for running a university. The judgement is also said to state the student should not suffer in such a case.

Barrister Amir informed the court his client possessed a valid graduation degree obtained from American International College Lahore. The college, after meeting the criteria, is meant to officially be recognized by Wednesday and the recognition certificate will also be produced before the court on Thursday (today).

“Holding a fake degree should be considered a crime, but not holding a degree obtained from an unrecognised college,” argued Amir.

Shah’s other counsel, Abdul Latif Afridi, contended that according to Section 8 of the Election

Commission Order 2002,  “All decisions of the Election Commission shall be expressed in terms of the opinion of the majority of its members, including the chairman.”

Afridi said since the complaint against his client has been filed by two members of the commission, Justice (retd) Riaz Kiyani and Justice (retd) Fazalur Rehman, holding criminal proceedings against Shah was against the Election Commission’s orders.

Judge Shaibar Khan observed Shah has produced two allegedly forged degrees. The graduation degree produced before the returning officer during the 2008 polls was also allegedly counterfeit.

Shah’s counsels denied the allegation and said their client never produced any other degree. The lawyers argued it could have been a plot by Shah’s political rivals to disqualify him from the 2013 polls. The deadline to decide all election-related petitions ends today.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th, 2013.