by: Zulfiqar Ali
Khalifa Abdul Qayyum, a former member of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly, has been released from DI Khan Central Jail after completing an imprisonment sentence in a fake degree case.
On April 17 2013, the election tribunal gave Qayyum a go-ahead to contest general elections from NA-24 and PK-64 from the platform of Muttahida Deeni Mahaz (MDM), however, his nomination papers for both the constituencies were rejected by returning officers because of his conviction in the fake degree case.
In April, DI Khan District and Sessions Judge Hayat Khan sentenced Qayyum to three years imprisonment and fined him Rs5,000 for possessing a fake degree, following which police arrested him. The DI Khan bench of the Peshawar High Court later reduced his sentence.
Qayyum was elected to the K-P Assembly as an independent candidate from PK-64, DI Khan-1 in 2008.
The former MPA, a member of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (formerly known as Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan), supported the Awami National Party in the provincial assembly. Qayyum later joined MDM, which is a political alliance between six religious parties.
This article was written by Zulfiqar Ali and originally published on tribune
