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| India-Pakistan |
| Fazl negotiating to abolish graduation criterion for MPs |
| 2007-10-30 |
| Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) chief Maulana Fazalur Rehman is negotiating with the government to abolish the graduation condition for members of Parliament, Advocate Abdul Karim Kundi told the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday. Kundi, who is counsel for MNA Mufti Ibrar Sultan, said the JUI chiefÂ’s negotiations were in the final stages and said he was hopeful that the graduation condition would be removed by the next elections. Judgement reserved: A three-member bench of the SC, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry reserved its judgement in a case disputing the madrassa degrees of two Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal MNAs, Mufti Ibrar Sultan and Gul Muhammad Dumar, after completion of arguments. The court was hearing the petitions of the two MNAs after the election tribunal disqualified them from running. Abdul Karim Kundi and Ibrahim Satti appeared on behalf of Mufti Ibrar and Gul Muhammad Dummar, respectively. They argued that the graduation condition was ultra-vires to the Constitution and should be abolished forthwith, as it violated the rights of over 150 million non-graduates of the country by declaring them ineligible to contest general elections. Kundi said it was likely that the condition would be abolished at the conclusion of ongoing Fazal-government negotiations. |
| Posted by:Fred |