QUETTA/DI KHAN/SWABI/MUZAFFARGARH: Three former lawmakers holding fake degrees and dual nationality were on Tuesday sent to jail, while two were facing arrest warrants and one was indicted in separate cases on the orders of the Supreme Court.
Interestingly, PML-N’s former MPA from Sargodha Rizwan Gul managed to escape from the court soon after the judge sentenced him to three years in jail and Rs5,000 fine for possessing a fake degree.The first decision came against former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa MPA Khalifa Abdul Qayyum in a fake degree case.Khalifa Abdul Qayyum had obtained a certificate equal to graduation from Madrassa Mehmoodiya Gandi Azim, Bannu and was elected as MPA (Independent) from Dera City-1 in the 2008 election.
Following the directives of the Election Commission of Pakistan, Deputy Commissioner Ahmed Nawaz lodged a case against Qayyum with the City police station on March 4, 2011 for possessing a fake degree.Additional District and Sessions Judge No-V, Dera Ismail Khan, Anwar Hayat Khan, sentenced Khalifa Abdul Qayyum to three years in prison and Rs5,000 fine. Following the judgment, the ex-MPA was taken into custody from the courtroom and sent to jail.
Qayyum was the second former MPA from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa convicted for possessing a fake degree. Earlier, former MPA Sardar Ali Khan was sentenced to three-year jail and Rs5,000 fine in a fake degree case.District and Sessions Judge Sibi Saadatullah Bazai sentenced Pakistan People’s Party’s former MNA Humayun Aziz Kurd to one year in prison and Rs5,000 fine in a fake degree case. Kurd, who won the 2008 elections from NA-267, was arrested from the courtroom and sent to jail.
District and Sessions Judge, Swabi, Tariq Yousafzai on Tuesday sentenced former member of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Javed Khan Tarakai to one year in jail and Rs5,000 fine in a dual nationality case.Soon after the verdict, he was arrested and shifted to the Swabi judicial lockup. Javed Tarakai belongs to a business family of the district.Javed Tarakai, who has both Pakistani and Canadian citizenship, is uncle of Shehram Khan Tarakai, Chairman of the Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan (AJIP). He contested the 2008 elections from PK-32, Swabi-II, defeating the ANP candidate and former MPA Ameer Rehman.
Political observers say the decision might affect the AJIP election campaign and rivals could cash in on this situation.Additional Sessions Judge Quetta issued arrest warrants of former MNAs Nasir Shah and Maulvi Rozuddin in fake degree cases.The court issued arrest warrants for Nasir for the fourth time and directed the seizure of his moveable and immovable property. Former MPA Mir Badshah Qaisarani has also been indicted.District and Sessions Judge Abdur Rehman Niazi conducted proceedings in a fake degree case against ex-MNA from Muzaffargarh Jamsehd Dasti. The judge also recorded statements of witnesses on behalf of the counsel for Jamshed Dasti and the regional Election Commission. Dasti’s lawyers sought adjournment of proceedings for 2pm until Thursday. Accepting the request, the judge adjourned the case till Thursday.
Talking to media persons outside the court, Dasti saidduring the 2008 general election he had submitted a certificate of Sardarul Madaris whose Administrator Maulana Muhammad Abdullah Haider Rizvi had also testified before the court. Dasti said his brother Javed Dasti will contest the general elections if the court declared him ineligible.PML-N’s former MPA from Sargodha Rizwan Gul escaped from the court after the judge sentenced him to three years in jail and Rs5,000 fine for possessing a fake degree.The district and sessions judge issued an arrest warrant for the former Punjab Assembly member from Sahiwal Iqbal Langrial for possessing a fake degree.Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan declared the degree of former parliamentarian Maulvi Agha Muhammad Khan as fake and sent his case to the sessions court. Agha was elected as parliamentarian on a JUI-F ticket. He was also among the JUI-F contenders for the 2013 general election. – TheNews
