Dasti’s counsel said that the government has failed to produce any witnesses against his client during Wednesday’s proceedings. PHOTO: INP/FILE
The Lahore High Court has overturned a three-year prison sentence handed to former Pakistan Peoples Party lawmaker Jamshed Dasti in a fake degree case and has ordered his release.
The court also declared the PPP candidate eligible for contesting the upcoming polls.
Dasti had appealed to the LHC’s Multan bench against the verdict of a District and Sessions Court, sentencing him to three years in prison and fining him Rs5,000 for holding a fake degree during the 2008 polls on a petition filed by the regional election commission.
Dasti’s counsel said that the government has failed to produce any witnesses against his client during Wednesday’s proceedings.
Furthermore, he added, the government’s counsel, Javed Hashmi, also failed to present any orders from the federation or the election commission for lodging a fake degree case against him.
After hearing the arguments, Justice Ebaadur Rehman Lodhi and Justice Ijaz Ahmed Khan declared the district court’s verdict null and void and declared Dasti eligible for contesting the elections.
The former MNA was to contest from NA-177 against PPP’s Noor Rabbani Khar and in NA-178 against PPP’s Nawabzada Iftikhar Ahmed khan.
Following the LHC’s decision, celebrations broke out in NA-178 and NA-177 and arrangements are underway to give Dasti a warm welcome in Muzaffargarh after he is released from the central prison in Multan today.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2013.
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It's unbelievable, the kind of judiciary we have running in this country. The lower courts convicts the perpetuators and the higher court exonerates them. I wonder what kind of message is being sent to the world. The message to me is , either the magistrate courts are not functioning properly or the higher courts are not doing there jobs.
It's a shame that a proven fake degree candidate not only goes free but his honor is restored and he can now stand for election. All crooks and defaulters , and embezzelars , please take a heart from this -and make an appeal against your convictions to the higher courts , who knows you may be purified too.
God Bless Pakistan Justice System.
Thanks to The Great System Of Judiciary. Heads off**
And now they call it justice. A person who submitted fake degrees in Elections 2008 is declared Sadiq and Ameen by LHC. This country will only prosper if justice is provided to everyone equally. It is a shame for the courts of Pakistan to set Mr. Dasti free even it is on records that he submitted a fake degree...
It goodluck of Jamshed Dasti which is working.
Way to go Dasti ! You are the true hero of the oppressed people. Unlike drawing room revolutionaries, you actually fought feudal lords and other oppressors.