PESHAWAR - A local court indicted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Sports Syed Aqil Shah in a fake degree case here on Thursday and fixed November 15 for next hearing.
District and Sessions Judge Shehbar Khan indicted Aqil on charges of submitting a fake graduation degree with the Election Commission of Pakistan for contesting the 2008 general elections.
It is worth mentioning here that on the complaint of the Regional Election Commissioner (REC) a fake degree case was filed against Aqil who could be given three-year imprisonment in case of his conviction.
Earlier, the court had also issued bailable warrants against the minister during the last hearing on October 24 for not appearing before the court but later it withdrew the warrant when the minister appeared in person before the bench and fixed November 1 for hearing.
The Regional Election Commissioner had contended in its plea that Aqil Shah had contested the 2008 general election from PF-4 Peshawar on a fake degree as the bachelor’s degree of the accused that had allegedly been issued by the University of Punjab on October 15, 2002 was scrutinised and found fake by the Higher Education Commission on August 5, 2010.
The complainant said that the accused had appeared before a nominated officer of the Election Commission on November 29, 2010, and had submitted another copy of a B.A. degree issued by the University of Punjab, attested on the back by HEC, which was then sent to the HEC for verification. However, the HEC reported that it was the same degree already declared bogus.
Moreover, it was stated that the accused produced before the nominated officer a copy of a transcript of B.A. marks sheet issued on March 3, 2007 by Newports Institute of Communication and Economics, Karachi.
He also submitted an affidavit declaring he disowned the B.A. degree from the University of Punjab and claimed that he had attached a copy of the said marks sheet with his nomination paper.
The complainant also said that the said copy was also sent to the HEC for verification through the Newports Institute of Communication and Economics, Karachi, but it was informed that the said marks sheet had not been issued by them. The court fixed November 15 for next hearing in the case.