SC suspends PTI MNA, disqualifies two MPAs over fake degrees

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan Thursday suspended Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Ghulam Sarwar's national assembly membership (NA-53) after his credentials failed to pass Higher Education Commission (HEC) scrutiny and turned out to be counterfeit, Geo News reported.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, took up the "fake degrees case" here on Thursday.

During the course of the hearing the bench also dropped the axe on a couple of Members Punjab Assembly (MPAs) for the same reason.

Among the disqualified MPAs are Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Khawaja Islam (PP-72 Faisalabad) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal’s (JUI-F) Sardar Mir Badshah Khan Qaisarani.

The bench not only denotified Khwaja Islam’s membership but also ordered the concerned authorities of lodge a case against him.

The apex court, on the other hand, declared Malik Mohammad Nawaz’s (PP-71) credentials are authentic.

Honorable judges reserved a verdict with regard to MNA Maiza Hameed’s credentials, while they ordered HEC to verify MNA Zaib Jafar’s educational certificates.