MUZAFFARABAD, Oct 9: An election tribunal in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday declared a ruling Muslim Conference lawmaker ineligible for possessing a fake educational certificate and directed the chief election commissioner to make immediate arrangements for fresh polls in his constituency. The decision against Chaudhry Rukhsar Ahmed, minister for trade and industry, came more than four years after his eligibility was challenged by his electoral rival and former MLA Chaudhry Arshad.

Under the AJK election laws introduced in 2001, a candidate must possess minimum educational qualification of matriculation or its equivalent from any recognised institution.

Mr Ahmed, 46, had submitted certificates of GCE, O and A level purported to have been issued by Assessment Qualification Alliance (AQA), an educational institution in Manchester (UK), in 1990 and 1992. However, in a letter written to the (then) chief election commissioner Justice Reaz Akhtar Chaudhry on June 23, 2006, an official of AQA had categorically stated that “these certificates are forgery.”

“The certificates are purported to have been issued in 1990 and 1992, yet they bear the logo of AQA and awarding body that was not established until 2000,” read the letter, a copy of which was printed in a booklet about rigging in 2006 elections. However, the Election Commission did not take any action in the light of the AQA letter and in the meanwhile Mr Ahmed returned to the assembly on July 11, 2006.

When contacted by , Mr Arshad, who is brother-in-law of former premier Barrister Sultan Mahmood, said the tribunal's decision had vindicated his stand. “Though the decision has been delayed, I believe justice has prevailed.” —Staff Correspondent