SWABI, Jan 22: Police registered an FIR against independent MPA Sardar Ali after his BA degree was found fake.

When contacted, district police officer Muhammad Ijaz Khan confirmed on Saturday that an FIR had been lodged against the MPA on the complaint of the election commission.

Insiders said that a written application was submitted at the Chota Lahor police station by Mohammad Javid, deputy election commissioner, Mardan, in which it was pleaded that a case should be registered against Mr Ali, who was elected from PF-34, Swabi.

They said that Mr Ali's BA degree was declared fake by the university after which the local election commission officials were directed by the provincial election commission to take action against him.

The sources said that after receiving the application from the election commission the high-raking police officials held a meeting at Chota Lahor police station and registered an FIR against Mr Ali late on Friday night.

Police officials told this correspondent that the FIR had been registered under the Representation of People Act 1976. The other sections mentioned in FIR include 94, 199, 471, 200 and 420 PCC, they said.

When asked, senior lawyers here pointed out that in the presence of Section 420 in the FIR the MPA would have to secure his bail from the local court. However, they said that Mr Ali was not yet disqualified by the government and the election commission would have to prove in the court that his degree was fake. TEACHERS SERVICE:

The service structure announced recently for government school teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa drew mixed reaction from the teachers' organizations here.

Representatives of Malgary Ustazan (MU), a teachers' wing of the ANP, said that earlier all the senior English teachers (SETs) were appointed by the Public Service Commission (PSC), but now the government had recommended that 50 per cent SETs would be selected batch-wise on the basis of their seniority.

The MU leaders said that the government had met one of their longstanding demands.

However, members of All Teacher Association (ATA) said that earlier the batch-wise quota was 75 per cent and they were demanding its complete restoration. They said the new service structure would greatly benefit the primary school teachers, who would also qualify to become headmasters of high schools.

However, they said that those who work at middle, high and higher secondary schools were deprived of such opportunities of promotion.