13-Year legal battle ends: SHC clears PPP's Shazia Marri in fake degree case

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday pronounced its verdict on a petition seeking the disqualification of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Shazia Marri over an alleged fake degree, after a hiatus of 13 years, ARY News reported.

The court declared the disqualification petition against the prominent PPP leader unmaintainable.

In its verdict, the SHC stated that under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution, the High Court does not have the authority to disqualify a Member of Parliament.

The court noted that an objection of the same nature was raised before an election tribunal back in 2018, and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had already rejected the objection regarding the degree in 2022.

Furthermore, an appeal filed in the Supreme Court against the election tribunal’s decision was disposed of after being withdrawn in 2023.

“The petition is unmaintainable in light of the Supreme Court’s orders,” the court remarked, adding that a constitutional petition is insufficient to declare someone disqualified.

The petitioner alleged that the PPP leader used the 2002 BA degree of a student with the same name, urging the court to disqualify Shazia Marri from her assembly seat.

The petitioner maintained that she claimed to be a graduate while submitting her nomination documents to the ECP during the 2002, 2008, and 2013 general elections.

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Meanwhile, Shazia Marri’s counsel argued that the matter regarding her degree had already been reviewed with complete evidence before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which had previously dismissed the petition against it.