Petitions clubbed: Notice issued to Murad Saeed

Petitioner asks court to disqualify MNA for violating Article 62

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court issued a notice to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNA Murad Saeed while hearing a case seeking his disqualification on Thursday.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Malik Manzoor Hussain took up the petition filed by a NA-29 voter Haider Ali Shah against the lawmaker. The petitioner requested the court to declare Saeed’s qualification null and void after he violated the law during the electoral process.

While hearing the case that now consists of two petitions, the court also issued notices to the University of Peshawar (UoP) registrar and controller examinations and the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan – the other respondents named by Haider.



Haider, a resident of Kuza Bandai, Kabal tehsil moved the petition through his counsel Syed Haziq Ali Shah. The petition states Saeed violated Article 62 (qualification, character, honesty) of the Constitution and misrepresented facts in his nomination papers.

Haider claimed Saeed has unpaid bills for the time he spent at the University of Peshawar hostel. While submitting his papers, the MNA mentioned he possessed a BS Environmental Sciences degree which is incorrect because Saeed is yet to clear all his required courses, Haider maintained. The petitioner requested the court to declare the Election Commission of Pakistan’s notification declaring Saeed an elected representative of no legal effect.

MNA wants justice

Haider’s petition has been clubbed with the petition filed by the MNA regarding his BS Environmental Sciences degree on March 10. During the proceedings of the latter, Saeed’s counsel requested the court for an extension because he wished to make amendments to the petition. The court adjourned the proceedings till the next date of hearing.

Speeding through

The young lawmaker’s degree case came to the fore when the Pakhtun Students Federation accused him of passing three stalled papers in a single hour when the UoP arranged for a make-up examination.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 1^st, 2015.