Islamabad, May 19: A lawyer seeking to have 65 Islamist MPs expelled from Pakistani parliaments because they do not hold mandatory university degrees asked the Supreme Court today for more time to add names to his list. The court was due to hear the government's response to a petition by lawyer Aslam Khaki, who maintains the MPs' Islamic studies certificates -- known as Sanad of Shahadat Alimiya --are not equivalent to a university Bachelor's degree (BA).

Under a controversial law introduced on June 22 by President Pervez Musharraf, all candidates for October 10 polls were required to hold at least an undergraduate degree. Amid an uproar from Islamic parties, the election commission later ruled that the Sanad was equivalent to a BA.

Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan was due to present the government's response before a five-judge bench today, but Khaki asked for more time to investigate the educational backgrounds of MPs from other parties.
"I need two to three weeks more, as I have to find out if there were some others members of parliament who had degrees from seminaries," Khaki pleaded.

Attorney General Khan also said that he needed more time to prepare the government's case.

Chief Justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmed postponed the hearing until June 12.
Khaki said that he may add the names of legislators from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) to his current list of 65 MPs from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) alliance of Islamic parties.
Bureau Report