KARACHI: Academic degrees facing legal challenges landed one lawmaker in prison on Wednesday, another got himself declared a proclaimed offender, judgments against five were reserved and arrest warrants were issued for two former MNAs.
Also on Wednesday, hearing on a case relating to fake degree against a former MNA, Jamshed Dasti, was adjourned till Thursday and he said he had decided against contesting for the two National Assembly seats as he had announced earlier.
In Dera Ismail Khan, a former member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly, Kishore Kumar, was sent to jail to serve one-year term for submitting along with his nomination papers a fake graduation degree in the 2008 elections.
The D.I. Khan bench of Peshawar High Court upheld the conviction of Mr Kumar, who represented the now defunct alliance of religio-political parties, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Qaisar Rasheed and Justice Lal Jan Khattak dismissed a criminal appeal filed by Mr Kumar against his conviction by the district and sessions judge on April 23 last year. The district court had sentenced Mr Kumar to one-year jail with Rs15,000 fine.
In Bahawalpur, District and Sessions Judge Syed Hamid Hussain cancelled the bail of a former PPP MNA, Sardar Aamir Yar Warren, in the fake degree case and directed police to initiate legal proceedings for declaring him a proclaimed offender.
The order was issued when Mr Warren did not appear before the court in the afternoon after a separate petition filed by the former legislator before the Bahawalpur branch of the Lahore High Court had been disposed of.
When Mr Warren failed to appear before the sessions court, the judge ordered cancellation of his bail and directed police to complete legal formalities under section 87 of the Criminal Procedure Code to declare him a proclaimed offender.
Mr Dasti announced that he would not contest elections from the NA-177 and NA-178 constituencies after a sessions judge adjourned the fake degree case till Thursday.
Mr Dasti has already been indicted by the district court. On Wednesday, he asked the court to allow a new lawyer to defend his case. The lawyer sought time for preparation and the judge gave him until Thursday.
In Sargodha, District and Sessions Judge Abdus Sattar reserved judgment in the fake degree case pending against former MNA Syed Javed Hasnain.
Mr Hasnain was elected from the NA 68 Sargodha-V constituency in the 2008 elections on a PML-N ticket. He was later disqualified in a case lodged by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
According to APP, District and Sessions Judge in Bhakkar Zafar Iqbal Naeem summoned a former MNA Rasheed Akbar Khan and former MPA Saeed Akbar Khan Niwani on Thursday and issued arrest warrants.
Mr Khan and Mr Niwani had submitted fake degrees of BA during the 2002 elections and a case was registered against them in the City Police Station.
A Lahore High Court bench reserved the verdict on petitions seeking disqualification of the former parliamentarians, MNAs Liaqat Ali Bhatti and Rana Zahid Hussain and MPAs Mian Mohammad Azam Chella and Khwaja Mohammad Islam in fake degree cases.
Petitioners Mohammad Bakhsh Tarar, Waheed Sabir, Wajid Ali and Khwaja Ijaz said that former parliamentarians had submitted fake degrees with the ECP during the 2008 polls.
The information is based on reports filed by Muhammad Irfan Mughal in Dera Ismail Khan, Majeed Gill in Bahawalpur, Malik Tahseen Raza in Muzaffargarh and Sajjad Niazi in Sargodha
