The Hindu : Pak. court defends eligibility criteria

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 25, 2002

International

International

Pak. court defends eligibility criteria

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD July 24. The Pakistan Supreme Court has said that the minimum qualification of B.A. or its equivalent for the members of Parliament and the Provincial Assemblies was the first step towards a change in the "political culture".

Last week, the apex court had upheld the decision of the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, to prescribe graduation as the minimum qualification to context election for the National and Provincial Assemblies.

However, it did not give the reasons for its verdict.

In its order outlining the reasons, which was released on Tuesday, the Court said, "In our view, the Election Order deserves approval, being the first step aimed at bringing about a change in the political culture."

"We are of the view that the education-related qualification is reasonable and not arbitrary or whimsical because firstly, being a step towards transformation of the political culture it is founded on reasonable basis and secondly, it equally applies to all the graduates and does not discriminate any graduate or create a class within the graduates."

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