Six lawmakers to appear before EC tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: Six lawmakers accused of possessing fake or invalid degrees will appear before the Election Commission on Monday to explain their position before the commission decides to send their cases to district and sessions judges for trial for commission of corrupt practices.

They include three members of the National Assembly, two of the Punjab assembly and one of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly. They are among 47 legislators whose degrees have been declared fake or invalid by the Higher Education Commission.

Two of the six legislators allegedly held fake degrees. They are: MNA Syed Mohammad Salman Mohsin and MPA Waseem Afzal Gondal (Punjab). Both had submitted their BA degrees issued by the Bahauddin Zakria University (BZU) in Multan during the 2008 election.

Four legislators were accused of holding invalid degrees. They are: MNAs Molvi Agha Mohammad and Syed Javed Hussain Shah, and MPAs Shafiq Ahmad Gujjar (Punjab) and Gulistan Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)

Javed Hussain Shah has already resigned. Sources at the Election Commission said the vice-chancellor of BZU had also been asked to appear with record.