The Hindu : Graduation rule claims first victim

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 13, 2002

International

International

Graduation rule claims first victim

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD JULY 12. A senior leader of a splinter group of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) — nicknamed `King's Party' for its alleged proximity to the Musharraf regime — has become the first victim of the new rule stipulating graduation as the minimum qualification to contest in elections.

The secretary-general of the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam), Gohar Ayub Khan, resigned from his post after the Pakistan Supreme Court, on Thursday, upheld the graduation clause introduced by the Government. Incidentally, Mr. Khan is the son of the first military ruler, Ayub Khan.

Though there are no immediate estimates of members in the dissolved and the previous assemblies who are likely to be hit by the new rule, it is clear that the numbers would be in hundreds if not thousands. The casualties include leaders of most parties, prominent among them being the PML-QA, PML-Nawaz, the Pakistan People's Party and the Awami National Party.

In a hard-hitting editorial, "140 million Pakistanis disenfranchised. So what'', the Daily Times said: "the die is cast. The fate of the October election is becoming clearer by the day as the decrees rain down on us and the courts stampede to enshrine them faster them they fall. The political parties will just have to do the best they can under the circumstances and we will all have to sit tight until one day the system will come crashing down as all anti-people systems have fared in the past. 140 million Pakistanis have been disenfranchised. So what? It is no skin off the military's back''.

It appears that immediately after the introduction of the qualification condition, some parties, particularly the PML-QA, asked their non-graduate but potential nominees for the October polls to appear in the graduate degree examinations or name their scions to replace them as party candidates.

A few appeared for the examination. But most of them are preparing their sons for the contest. Mr. Khan's son too will fight from his native Haripur constituency.

According to one report, even the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, who is otherwise convicted and disqualified to hold party office or contest the October elections, cannot contest, as she does not hold a bachelor's degree.

Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, who heads the multi-party Opposition grouping, the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, too stands disqualified.

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