ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday referred three cases of lawmakers holding fake degrees to the police for registration of criminal cases against the parliamentarians.
However, the lawmakers whose cases have been sent to police are all from opposition parties – Shaukat Aziz Bhatti and Zahoor Hussain Khosa of the PML-Q and Farah Deeba of the PML-N.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) had in July declared 56 lawmakers’ degrees either fake or invalid.
Subsequently, the accused lawmakers were given a chance by the ECP to defend their degree before its Special Committee. However, most of them failed to do so. After closing eight fake-degree holders’ cases, the ECP hearing committee referred them to the chief election commissioner for initiation of legal action. Of the eight cases, three have now been referred to police.
The chairman of the ECP hearing committee, Afzal Khan, told Pakistan Today that until the court’s decision, the accused lawmakers would remain members of their respective assemblies.
