December 24, 2002	Tuesday	Shawwal 19, 1423

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SWABI, Dec 23: After the suspension of the election tribunal order, disqualifying Swabi district Nazim Sher Zaman Sher, the district councillors have abandoned the campaign for in-house election of the Nazim for an interim period of three months.

According to the local bodies law, the electoral college has to elect the district Nazim within a week of either resignation or demise of the leader of the house for an interim period of three months. However, the EC has to notify the district council concerned for such election under the local bodies ordinance 2000.

The runner-up in the district Nazim election, Jehanzeb Khan, had filed a petition on Aug 20, 2001, seeking disqualification of the district Nazim on the ground that he had submitted a fake matric certificate with his nomination papers.

The single-bench tribunal observed in its judgment that the Nazim’s disqualification also destroyed the prospects of the runner-up to assume the office of Nazim.

The district Nazim had alleged that the certificate he submitted at the time of filing his nomination papers was replaced with a forged one. He submitted that since he passed his matriculation examination from Afghanistan, he was eligible to contest the election.

The tribunal had sent three letters to the ministry of foreign affairs of Afghanistan for the verification of the educational documents of Sher Zaman Sher, but it did not receive any reply, and disqualified the district Nazim on Nov 27.

Sher Zaman Sher moved the Peshawar High Court against this judgment, which stayed the verdict till Jan 14, 2003.

Jehanzeb Khan told Dawn on Monday that he had also filed a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court and its hearing would be held on Jan 14.

In his petition, Jehanzeb has sought that along with the district Nazim, Naib Nazim Mohammad Jamil advocate should also be disqualified and the runner-up pair should be declared elected as Nazim and Naib Nazim.

After the disqualification of Sher Zaman Sher, the councillors affiliated with the Awami National Party had nominated the Nazim of Dagai union council, Shahbaz Khan, for the slot.

The Collective Independent Swabi Group had also formed a 10-member committee, which also included Sher Zaman Sher. Its president Muqarab Khan told this scribe that they were well-prepared for the in-house election of the district Nazim.

The Jamaat-i-Islami had also constituted a four-member committee, which also included MMA MNA Mohammad Usman advocate, to make preparations for the election of new Nazim.