MPs give frigid response to Election Commission

Only six of the 12 MPs summoned appeared to defend themselves against the charges.

ISLAMABAD: Public representatives implicated in the scandal over bogus or falsified degrees gave a frigid response to the Election Commission on Monday, with only six of the 12 MPs summoned   appearing to defend themselves against the charges.

The Election Commission has vowed to complete the initial hearing of all bogus degree cases by the end of this month but the progress on the ground speaks otherwise, since hearing into any of the 58 cases detected so far has not been completed.

Either the legislators do not appear, or they send their representatives to the commission on the stipulated date. Those representatives usually ask for adjournments on different grounds. The same happened on Monday when cases of all the six MPs who turned up were adjourned till the next hearings.

Waseem Sajjad, a representative of Hayatullah Khan Tareen (NA-155), pleaded that Tareen had already resigned, and the by-election in the said constituency had also been conducted.   The committee observed this and said that he may submit his defence for the case.

Provincial deputy Zulfiqar Ali (PP-271) appeared in person and pleaded that his case is under trial in the Election Tribunal, Lahore. He claimed that the copy available with the returning officer is not the copy of the degree submitted by him, while submitting another copy.

Sohail Manzoor Khan, a representative of Sardar Mir Badshah Khan Qaisrani (PP-240), pleaded that Qaisrani had already resigned and the by-election in the said constituency had also been conducted. He informed the committee that a single bench had already decided the case to which the committee asked him to provide all the copies of the litigation.

Noor-ul-Salam, a representative of Nasir Ali Shah (NA-259) who was given a final show cause notice, stated that Shah was abroad for his treatment and was unable to appear before the committee due to his critical injuries.

Shaukat Aziz Bhatti (PP-4) who allegedly filed someone else’s degree to qualify for the elections, appeared in person and requested for the supply of his documents. He informed that he did his graduation from Punjab University. The committee decided to ask the controller of examination, Punjab University to provide, in person, his relevant records

Kishwar Kumar, (K-P-Reserved), associated with counsel appeared in person and pleaded that his case regarding the fake degree is already under trial in the Peshawar High Court, Peshawar. The committee informed him that the copy of the degree submitted by him in the previous hearing was sent to Gomal University for necessary verification and the institution’s assistant registrar has declared the said degree as fake.

Rustam Khan Padhiar appeared voluntarily on behalf of Ms Saima Aziz (PP reserved) and pleaded that there were changes in her birth name due to which her CNIC was revised. He also provided copies of her degree and the committee fixed October 18 as the date for the next hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2010.