The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its judgment in the fake degree case of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Leader Yar Muhammad Rind, which was challenged by Sardar Asim.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by the chief justice of Pakistan, reserved the judgment after hearing arguments from both the sides.
Earlier on July 5, the SC allowed PTI Balochistan President Yar Muhammad Rind to contest the 2018 general election.
Setting aside the Balochistan High Court’s decision disqualifying Yar Muhammad Rind from the poll run, the top court directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to issue an electoral symbol to the PTI candidate.
A two-judge bench of the apex court heard Rind’s plea against the BHC’s decision to disqualify him on the grounds that he possessed a fake degree and had a murder case against him.
Rind’s lawyer told the court, “I had intentionally written in the nomination papers that the PTI Balochistan president holds a Faculty of Arts degree.”
Claiming that Rind’s previous nomination papers stated that he held a Master’s degree, his counsel added, “I made a conscious decision to not mention that.”
Further, the PTI Balochistan president’s counsel denied the chief justice’s suggestion that there seems to be “some dishonesty” behind the decision.
“I was not being dishonest when I hid the degree certificate,” he said.
Regarding the murder case against him, Rind’s lawyer stated, “He has been granted bail in the case.”
Earlier on July 3, BHC maintained disqualification verdict of Muhammad Rind. During the hearing, the BHC declared that the decision by the returning officer and appellate tribunal would stand and rejected his plea seeking permission to contest election from PB-17 and NA-260 Kachi/Jhal Magsi. Rind had challenged the verdict of appellate tribunal barring him from contesting the election. The court reserved the verdict of the case in the last hearing.
Published in Daily Times, September 20th 2018.