ISLAMABAD: The Sup­r­eme Court on Thursday al­­lowed Sardar Yar Moham­mad Rind, provincial president of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in Balochistan, to contest the upcoming elections by suspending the Balochistan High Court’s (BHC) verdict that had barred him from the contest.

Mr Rind submitted his nomination papers for National Assembly’s constituency NA-260 in Sibi district and Balochistan Asse­mbly constituency PB-17 in the same district. The appellate tribunal had barred Mr Rind from contesting elections for concealing an FIR registered against him and for submitting a ‘fake’ master’s degree.

The two-member division bench of the BHC had upheld the appellate tribunal’s judgement and subsequently Mr Rind had filed an appeal before the Supreme Court.

Mr Rind told the apex court that his master’s degree was in fact a madressah degree which he had declared in the 2008 elections. But, he said, he had chosen to not submit this time around as it was not verifiable by the Higher Education Commission. The three-member SC bench headed by the chief justice of Pakistan ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan to allot a symbol to Mr Rind for contesting the elections. The apex court issued notices to other parties in the case.

Published in Dawn, July 06th, 2018