SHC dismisses Shazia Marri’s appeal about her fake degree

A 13-year-old request for Shazia Marri’s disqualification due to an alleged bogus degree was denied by the Sindh High Court.

KARACHI — After 13 years, the Sindh High Court has ruled on a petition to disqualify Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Shazia Marri due to an alleged fraudulent degree.

The High Court lacks the constitutional power to remove a member of Parliament, the court said in its ruling, dismissing the petition as inadmissible.

The petitioner’s attorney claimed that Shazia Marri had used another student’s 2002 degree that shared her name. The Election Commission dismissed the degree-related complaint in 2022, but the court pointed out that a similar objection had previously been brought before an election tribunal during the 2018 elections.

The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal against the electoral tribunal’s ruling in 2023 after it was withdrawn, the court noted.

Shazia Marri’s attorney contended that the Election Commission had already considered the degree issue based on evidence and had already denied the petition pertaining to her degree.

The Sindh High Court noted that judicial institutions are not permitted by the Constitution to pronounce someone to be truthful and reliable.

The court additionally decided that a constitutional petition was not admissible in light of the Supreme Court’s directives and that it was insufficient on its own to disqualify an individual.