ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) has restored the membership of Zia-ur-Rehman as a Member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly here on Monday, ARY News reports.
Zia-ur-Rehman was elected in the KP Assembly from PK-54 Mansehra in the General Elections on May 11th, 2013 as an independent candidate. He joined Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) later.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) had jointly challenged his victory on the grounds of possesing fake educational documents on which the election tribunal had disqualified Rehman of not having a degree from a Higher Education Commision (HEC) recognized institute.
He challenged his disqualification in SCP which was heard by a three member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani.
Chief Justice, while hearing the appeal, said that possesing degrees from unrecognized university and acquiring false educational documents are different things. He added that Zia-ur-Rehman received his degree after clearing his Bachelor in Arts examinations and no counterfeit was proven in the nomination papers.
SCP restored the status of Zia-ur-Rehman as MPA and dismissed the election tribunal's decision.
