Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Tuesday said the character of elected representatives should be spotless.

He gave these remarks while presiding over a three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) during the hearing of an appeal plea filed by PML-N leader Zia ur Rehman against the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) decision in his disqualification case.

The SC admitted the petition for hearing, but rejected his plea seeking suspension of the PHC’s decision.

During the hearing, Zia’s lawyer Tariq Mehmood took the plea that the PHC did not consider the facts while giving a decision. Not a single forum has declared the degree of his client as fake in 2013 general elections, he added.

The CJP remarked, “Every case has its own facts. No teacher of madrassah has verified the degree of your client.”

He further observed, “Unfortunately, Zia is not “Sadiq” (truthful) apparently while the character of public representatives should be impeccable.”

The court while issuing notices to both parties and directed the vice chancellor of Shah Abdul Latif University to file record pertaining to Zia’s degree on the next hearing.

Mehmood requested the court to stay polls in his client’s constituency until the decision of the case.

The chief justice remarked that it takes two months to complete the election process. “But we will fix this case for hearing before it.”

The court adjourned the hearing for ten days.

PML-N leader Ziaur Rehman was elected MPA from KP-54. The PHC disqualified him for holding a fake degree.