PESHAWAR, Jan 2: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday dismissed a writ petition seeking disqualification of former NWFP minister Maulana Asmatullah from contesting the forthcoming general election.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Hamid Farooq Durrani and Justice Alam Khan observed that Maulana Asmatullah was qualified to contest election.

The petitioner, Muhammad Siraj Khan, contended that Maulana Asmatullah, who has been contesting for the provincial assembly constituency of PF-62, Kohistan, possessed a Sanad of seminary which was not equivalent to graduation.

The petitioner stated that under the law only a graduate can qualified to contest polls, thus, Maulana Asmatullah, contesting on the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal ticket, was not eligible to participate in the polls. The petitioner had earlier filed the election appeal before an election appellate tribunal of the high court which had also dismissed his plea.

Maulana Asmatullah contended that he had the Sanad of Shahadatul Alamia which was issued by the Wafaqul Madaris, a recognised board of seminaries.

Meanwhile, in another petition of Muhammad Siraj Khan, the bench summoned the controller of examinations of University of Peshawar for verification of his degree, which was earlier declared forged.

The petitioner, who was disqualified from contesting polls for PF- 62, Kohistan, requested the court to set aside the orders of the returning officer and permit him to contest elections.

His papers were rejected on the ground that the degree possessed by him was forged. Later on, he filed an appeal before the election appellate tribunal which upheld the decision of the returning officer and declared his disqualification legal.

The petitioner stated that the university had not verified his roll number and instead verified that of another student. He added that the university had erred in his case. Petitions Dismissed: The high court on Wednesday dismissed writ petitions of two persons praying the court to set aside the rejection of their nomination papers and allow them to contest polls.

The petitioners, Muhammad Asad and Khursheed Khan had filed nomination papers for the provincial assembly constituencies PF-34 (Swabi) and PF- 27 (Mardan), respectively.

Their papers were rejected on the ground that although they had produced their DMCs (Detail Marks Certificates) of graduation examination from the Al-Khair University, but they could not produce the original degrees.

They, later on, filed appeals before the appellate tribunal, which granted them a few days for acquiring their original degrees. However, they could not produce the degrees following which their appeals were dismissed.