MARDAN, Sept 2: Provincial People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) President Khawaja Mohammed Hoti withdrew his nomination papers on Monday, in protest against the disqualification of his party chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

An announcement to this effect was made by his son Farooq Khan Hoti hours before the returning officer concerned was scheduled to pronounce his decision in an application questioning Khawaja Hoti’s degree from Jamshoro University, Hyderabad.

A candidate of PPP (Sherpao), Syed Kamal Shah contesting for PF-24, had challenged the validity of his degree of M.A. Mass Communication in an application filed with the Mardan election authority. Mr Shah had also submitted some documents with the returning officer (RO) in support of his challenge.

After hearing arguments of both the sides on Monday, the officer adjourned proceedings for three hours to take decision on the issue. But before the decision could be made public, Farooq Hoti, a contestant for PF-30 (Mardan-VIII), announced that his father had decided to withdraw his candidature as a mark of protest against the rejection of Benazir Bhutto’s papers.

In the meanwhile, speaking at a press conference at the Mardan Bar Room, Mr Shah’s counsel Fazal Wahab claimed that Khawaja Hoti had withdrawn his papers because the degree was fake.

He said, though Mr Hoti had submitted that he had passed all the four semesters of the course, he could not produce any mark sheet in support of his claim in the RO’s court.

“As Mr Hoti has tried to deceive the court, an action would be taken against him,” Mr Wahab said, adding that the upper courts would be moved against Mr Hoti for submitting the fake degree along with his nomination papers.

He rejected the impression that Mr Hoti had withdrawn his papers in protest. If he had withdrawn in protest, why his son had not withdrawn his candidature on the same pretext, he argued.