Islamabad, July 12: There are conflicting claims on the issue whether Pakistan's former premier Benazir Bhutto is a graduate and would stand excluded from the October 10 polls on the basis of her educational qualifications.

In the defunct Parliament, 79 Members of National Assembly (MNAs) and 22 senators, including the leader of opposition Bhutto, did not possess a bachelor's degree, now a minimum qualification to contest elections, a report published in local daily said today. "Let the regime find it out and make itself a laughing stock in the process," said Mian Raza Rabbani, deputy secretary general of Pakistan People's Party, which has chosen Bhutto as its life-chairperson.
"Educated at Redcliffe Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Completed Oxford's diploma course in International Law and Diplomacy, 1977," were details given in the official list prepared by the government on educational qualification of the MNAs, "Dawn" newspaper reported. The paper, however, quoted official sources pointing out that the information was provided by the lawmakers themselves.


It showed 79 MNAs, inlcuding 53 ex-MNAs from former premier Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Mulsim League were under-graduates. Exclusion of Bhutto from the October elections would have none other than academic impact, as she already faces disqualification for twice being an elected prime minister and being convicted of corruption charges.
Last Saturday, President Pervez Musharraf issued a decree barring a person elected prime minister from seeking a third term.

Bureau Report