ISLAMABAD/MULTAN: The Lahore High Court has overturned the conviction of former National Assembly member Jamshed Dasti, who was sentenced for submitting a fake degree. Meanwhile, an election tribunal bench in Rawalpindi has cleared Pakistan Muslim league – Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Ayaz Amir to contest elections, overturning objections earlier raised by a returning officer.  

Jamshed Dasti, who won the 2008 elections on a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ticket, was convicted by a district and sessions judge last week for having a fake degree. He was sentenced by the LHC’s Multan bench to three years in prison along with a fine of Rs 5,000, and was also disqualified to contest polls.

Dasti had later filed an appeal against his conviction. It is unclear whether he will contest the upcoming elections as the election tribunal is yet to decide on his appeal.

The court ordered for his acquittal suspending his sentence.

Meanwhile, an election tribunal overturned the decision of the election commission’s Returning Officer (RO) rejecting the nomination papers filed by Ayaz Amir.

Speaking to the media after the decision, counsel for Ayaz Amir, Salman Akram Raja lauded the decision saying it was a landmark ruling and that the verdict would bring to an end the mudslinging campaign that candidates engage in.

A returning officer had rejected the nomination papers of the renowned columnist, who is contesting elections from the NA-60 constituency, ‘for writing against the ideology of Pakistan’ in his columns.

On the other hand, PPP leader Senator Farroq H. Naek filed an appeal with the election tribunal bench in Rawalpindi against the rejection of former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf’s nomination papers from NA-51 constituency.

Returning Officer Khalid Arshad had rejected Ashraf’s nomination papers after Raj Irfan Aziz, a relative of Raja Jawaid Ikhlas, had accused Ashraf of ‘pre-poll rigging and corrupt practices’ by misusing his discretionary funds in his constituency.

Similarly the Multan High Court decided in favour of accepting the nomination papers submitted by Faisal Saleh Hayat of the Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid (PML-Q).

Hayat had filed his nomination papers to contest elections from his hometown constituency NA-88 in Jhang, Punjab which were earlier rejected over allegations of electricity and irrigation water theft.

In related news, former military ruler Pervez Musharraf filed an appeal against the decision of the RO who had rejected his nomination papers filed for the NA-250 seat in Karachi.

ROs in Karachi, Islamabad and Kasur had rejected Gen Musharraf’s papers for imposing emergency in the country in November 2007 and keeping judges of the superior judiciary under unlawful detention.

The ex-military ruler was also accused of not disclosing his source of income in his nomination papers whereas he has declared assets worth more than Rs760 million.

Besides lawyers’ bodies, Gen Musharraf’s papers had also been challenged by the candidates of various parties, including the PML-N, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Jamaat-i-Islami.