PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday suspended a judgment of the Election Commission of Pakistan about the disqualification of PTI MPA Abdul Munim Khan and restored his membership of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Syed Afsar Shah issued notices to the ECP and rival candidate, Sher Alam, asking them to explain their respective positions on Mr Abdul Munim`s petition challenging his disqualification.

The bench fixed May 9 for the next hearing into the petition.On May 19, the five-member ECP had accepted a petition filed by Sher Alam, belonging to the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, and while disqualifying Abdul Munim it had also directed him to return the salaries he had received as an MPA so far. The commission had also ordered registration of an FIR against him for giving false undertaking at the time of general elections.

Sher Alam had claimed that Abdul Munim, who was elected from PK-88 Constituency and is special assistant to KP Chief Minister, was a school teacher and had tendered resignation on Mar 31, 2013, few days before scrutiny of his nomination papers.

He had stated that under Article 63 of the Constitution a candidate was disqualified from contesting polls if he had remained in service of Pakistan and a period of two years had not lapsed since he ceased to be insuch service.

Abdul Lateef Afridi and Barrister Waqar Ahmad, lawyers for the petitioner, said the ECP had erred in disqualifying their client as the judgment was not based on facts.

They said the anti-corruption establishment had already started an inquiry into the said allegations and that as the inquiry had yet to be completed, the ECP had delivered the said judgment.

The lawyers said the ACE should have waited for the completion of the said inquiry.

They claimed that the petitioner was appointed as a teacher in an adult literacy program named Nai Roshni School, in 1987 for only five months after which the said project had ended.

The lawyer said the complainant Sher Alam had approached the ECP on basis of forged documents.

DEATH PENALTY SET ASIDE: A high court bench setaside the death penalty awarded to a man by a trial court in Charsadda.

Justice Ikramullah Khan and Justice Lal Jan Khattak accepted a criminal appeal of Awal Zeb against the conviction for the killing of his co-villager, Dilaram Khan, after altercation.

Shabir Hussain Gigyani, lawyer for the appellant, said the FIR of the incident was registered on Mar 31, 2014 at the Charsadda police station under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

He added that an additional district and sessions judge had convicted the appellant and sentenced him to death and ordered the payment of compensation of Rs160,000 to legal heirs of the deceased.

Mr Gigyani said the trial court had overlooked clear contradictions in the statements of prosecution witnesses as well as that of the medical report and the site plan.