ISLAMABAD: The massive earthquake which hit large parts of the country on Monday disrupted the Supreme Court hearing of the election dispute for the NA-154 Lohdran National Assembly seat, but the brief proceedings suggested that the court took notice of the absence of petitioner Mohammad Siddique Baloch.

“Your client should be present in the courtroom,” observed Justice Mian Saqib Nisar who was heading a three-judge bench that had taken up an appeal moved by Mr Baloch of the PML-N against his Aug 26 unseating by an election tribunal from NA-154 Lodhran-I.

Mr Baloch was disqualified by the Multan tribunal judge Zahid Mehmood on a challenge by PTI’s Jehangir Khan Tareen for what he said Mr Baloch’s fake educational qualifications and massive irregularities in the 2013 polls.

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Advocate Mohammad Shahzad Shaukat, representing the petitioner, assured the court that Mr Baloch would be in the court on Tuesday.

Later when Mr Shaukat requested the court to summon the entire educational record of his client to ascertain that he had appeared in the exams, Justice Nisar observed why not the gentleman (Baloch) himself.

Mr Shaukat read out the entire cross-examination of his client and conceded that Mr Baloch had failed to go through the question papers because of his weak eyesight and that he was weak in studies because he had passed the matriculation examination in the third grade.

He said the tribunal had summoned certain officers of the relevant educational board who had informed it that examination forms of Mr Baloch were missing. But the counsel hastened to add that the Higher Education Commission had appeared before the tribunal and informed it that the BA degree of Mr Baloch had been found to be genuine during the exercise conducted in 2010 to check educational qualifications of all parliamentarians.

Mr Baloch passed the matriculation examinations in 2002 as a private candidate from the Karachi Board of Secondary Education, did his higher secondary school certificate in 2004 and passed BA exams from Balochistan in 2008.

The court expressed surprise that Mr Baloch had failed to answer even simple questions in English put to him by the tribunal and dropped hints that the Supreme Court had the authority to order any kind of inquiry to ascertain facts.

Earlier the bench regretted that it had failed to get the answer of the suggestion it had put to the counsel of both the petitioner and the respondent.

On Oct 22, the court had asked both the counsel to get instructions from their clients what would be their reaction if the court lifted the disqualification bar of Mr Baloch and let the candidates contest a by-election in NA-154.

The court also asked them to focus their arguments on the disqualification aspect since it would not need to go into other aspects of the case if the court reached the conclusion that the petitioner had been rightly disqualified.

Advocate Makhdoom Ali Khan, appearing on behalf of Jahangir Tareen, assured the court that he would centre his arguments on the disqualification aspect acknowledging that the court would not need to dilate upon the rigging allegations if it was proved that Mr Baloch possessed fake educational qualifications.

The court adjourned the hearing till Tuesday on Mr Baloch’s request.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2015

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