Hard days for former MPs as ex-MPA jailed for fake degree

Former members of the parliament and provincial assemblies are now facing hard days for their blunders they had done when they had been enjoying perks. They never took care of their misdeeds but now they are being made accountable by independent courts.

District and session judge in Dera Ismail Khan on Tuesday awarded a three-year sentence in jail and Rs 5,000 penalty to former Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Khalifa Abdul Qayyum over his fake degree.

Qayyum, a leader of the banned Sipahe-e-Sahaba, was elected as independent candidate in 2008 elections.

The former MPA had appeared in the court in December two years ago and clarified that his degree was issued by an institution that was not recognised by the HEC. He asked the court to not label his degree as fake.

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) on March 29 declared that degrees of 54 politicians were fake and another 189 were yet to be verified.

Around 249 parliamentarians had not submitted their Matric and FA degrees to the commission yet, ECP said.

Having a graduation degree is no longer a legal requirement to participate in elections, but anyone who is proved of having forged documents in the past stands to be disqualified from the elections and may face criminal proceedings as well.

Meanwhile former federal minister Humayun Khan Kurd and ex-MPA Khalifa Abdul Qayyum were separately sentenced to imprisonment and fined for having contested the previous general elections on fake degrees.

In its verdict, a Sibi court awarded one-year jail term and slapped Rs5000 fine to Kurd for contesting 2008 general elections on a fake degree.

In another development, District and Session Judge DG Khan Wajahat Hussain framed charges against former member of Punjab Assembly Badshah Khan Qaisrani in fake degree case.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, he said that his degree had already been verified in 2002 and 2010.

Also former MPA from Peshawar Engineer Javed Turkai was sentenced to one year in prison for his dual nationality. He was arrested from the courtroom.

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Posted by Tahir Khan on Apr 2 2013. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.