The disqualified MNA, Mufti Ibrar Sultan, who was elected to the Lower House of Parliament, defeating Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam's (PML-QA) Syed Iftikhar Gilani, was the first casualty of the Government-prompted controversy over several MMA MP's university degrees.
The national election commission had ruled last year that the Sanad was equivalent to a BA after an uproar from Islamic parties.
The Peshawar ruling comes during a closely watched case in the Supreme Court, where a lawyer has filed a private challenge against 68 religious party MPs on the same grounds. Aslam Khaki has asked the court to disqualify the MPs for failing to meet academic requirements, charging that the Sanad was not equivalent to a BA. All but three of the 68 MPs belong to the six-party alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which surged to power in the October elections on unprecedented vote swings. The petition is pending disposal in the Supreme Court
Critics of Musharraf have accused him and his supporters of backing the Supreme Court challenge as a means of curbing the MMA, which has introduced Sharia law in the North-West Frontier Province and is spearheading a campaign to make Musharraf quit his double roles of president and army chief. Justice Khan said in his decision that Ibrar's educational certificate could not be recognized as a BA. The MMA now dominates the federal opposition with 17.5 percent of seats in the national assembly, while ruling outright in the NWFP legislature and sharing power in the southwest province of Baluchistan.
