December 08, 2007	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 27, 1428

PESHAWAR, Dec 7: The election appellate tribunal of the Peshawar High Court on Friday decided six appeals filed against the decision of different returning officers. Comprising Justice Saleem Khan and Justice Jehanzeb Raheem, the tribunal accepted an appeal filed by PPP (Sherpao) candidate Mohammad Aftab Haider Shah and disqualified former MPA Jawed Akber Khan from contesting election for PF-68 (Dera Ismail Khan-V).

It declared that a certificate of a religious seminary Mr Jawed had produced was not genuine, after Azeem Khan, the supervisor of the Darul Uloom-i-Muhammadia, Bannu, told the tribunal that the seminary had not issued any certificate to the candidate.

NWFP Advocate-General Pir Liaqat Khan stated that even if the certificate was genuine, the said seminary was not affiliated with any of the 10 boards of seminaries recognised by the Higher Education Commission.

The tribunal dismissed two appeals of candidates Anwer Saifullah, a former federal minister, and Inamullah Khan against former MPA Malik Imran, seeking his disqualification for PF-75 (Lakki Marwat-II).

Mr Inamullah and Mr Imran appeared in person.

Mr Inamullah claimed that Mr Imran had earlier been disqualified when he was an MPA for producing a forged degree and the Supreme Court had upheld that decision.

Mr Imran said his present graduation degree of the Al-Khair University had been verified by the university.

An appeal of former MPA Felix Innocent against the rejection of his nomination papers by the provincial election commissioner was also dismissed by the tribunal.

His papers had been rejected on the ground that his name was not mentioned in the list of candidates submitted by his alliance, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, to the Election Commission for seats reserved for minorities in the NWFP assembly.

An appeal of a candidate of the Pakistan People’s Party, Noor Sehar, was accepted and she was allowed to contest the election.

She said her papers had been rejected because her proposer and seconder, who belonged to Swat, could not turn up before the returning officer due to curfew there.

The tribunal dismissed an appeal filed by Safeerullah Khan whose papers had been rejected by the returning officer for NA-1 (Peshawar-I) on the ground that his proposer was a voter in NA-2 and not in NA-1.

In an appeal filed against Hameedullah Afridi, who is running for NA-46 (Khyber Agency), the tribunal directed the tribal administration and the agency education officer to verify on Dec 9 whether he was a government servant or not.

The appellant, Saeed Afridi, alleged that Mr Hameedullah was a watchman for the Government Primary School, Abdullah Jan village, and had even drawn salary for October 2007. The same objection had been overruled by the returning officer and had allowed Mr Hameedullah to contest the polls.

In an appeal filed by candidate Farooq Shah against former MPA Faisal Zaman, contesting for PF-52 (Haripur-IV), the tribunal directed the Higher Education Commission to verify his degree.

The tribunal stated that Mr Zaman had produced a degree of a university reportedly in Nigeria — Ahmadio Billeo University — which neither carried a signature of the authorised officer nor it mentioned in which city the university was situated.

The tribunal directed the NWFP advocate general to verify from the Karachi University the degree of a former NWFP assembly speaker, Habibullah Tareen.

His rival candidate for PF-50 (Haripur II), Arshid Ayub, had alleged that Mr Tareen was a matriculate and he had produced a forged degree of the Karachi University.