11 February 2005	Friday	01 Muharram 1426

LAHORE, Feb 10: An election tribunal of the Lahore High Court on Thursday disqualified MPA Shahid Qayyum on the basis that he produced a bogus BA degree while filing his nomination papers to the returning officer to contest for a Punjab Assembly seat from Chunian, Kasur.

Comprising Justice Mian Hamid Farooq, the tribunal declared petitioner Sheikh Alauddin as having been elected to the provincial assembly.

The tribunal directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to denotify Shahid Qayyum of the PML and issue a notification in favour of Sheikh Alauddin as an MPA from PP-181.

Sheikh Alauddin, through an election petition moved towards the end of 2002, challenged the degree of Shahid Qayyum. He submitted that the MPA had produced a BA degree, which the Punjab University had issued to his namesake.

During the proceedings of the petition, the university in its report called by the tribunal said the degree was not issued to MPA Shahid Qayyum. On one of the days of proceedings, the person who actually qualified BA and was issued the degree, appeared in the tribunal on a call stating that the university had issued the degree in his name.