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ISLAMABAD, Dec 16: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) appears to be the major loser in the fake degree saga, as all the cases of sitting and disqualified lawmakers approved so far for trial on charges of commission of corrupt practices belong to the party.
Sources told Dawn that the Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza has referred the case of Rizwan Nowaiz Gill, a former member of Punjab Assembly belonging to the PML-N, to district police officer of Sargodha for registration of an FIR.Mr Gill was perhaps the first lawmaker to be disqualified by the apex court over educational documents when his graduation degree (a prerequisite for contesting elections at the time) had been found to be dodgy. Subsequently re-elections were held in PP-34 and Ejaz Ahmad Kahlon of PPP was elected in his place.
Mr Gill is the fourth lawmaker whose case has been referred for registration of FIR and subsequent trial for commission of corrupt practices under the relevant laws. The three others included the already disqualified member of the Balochistan Assembly Zahoor Khosa and Members of the Punjab Assembly Farah Deeba and Shaukat Aziz.
Sources in the Higher Education Commission said that as per the record of Punjab University, the degree was issued to some other person named Muhammad Rizwan. The examination was held in 2001 and the result was declared in April 2002.
They said the signatures on the admission forms were quite different from those on the ID card of Rizwan Nowaiz Gill.
The record also showed that Rizwan was a permanent resident of Sargodha where his address was 89-A Satellite Town, while the examination centre where he had desired to take the examination was Government College, Bhakkar.
Even during the proceedings before the Supreme Court, Mr Gill could offer no explanation as to why a resident of Sargodha where a number of examination centres were available would opt to travel all the way to Bhakkar to take the examination.
Sources in the Election Commission said the concerned district and sessions judges would hold the trial of the legislators alleged to be guilty of making their way into the assemblies on the basis of dodgy degrees.
They said that under Section 82 of the Peoples' Representation Act, the offence of corrupt practices was punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine which may extend to Rs5000, or both.
