Islamabad, Apr. 5 (ANI): Election authorities in Pakistan have begun forcing candidates for parliament to prove their Islamic credentials, often in front of TV cameras, in a test of whether any space remains for secularism in the country's politics.
Officials are also scrutinizing the personal finances of candidates for the May 11 election, while courts have begun jailing outgoing lawmakers for having falsely claimed to have college degrees, which were a requirement in the previous election, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The heightened scrutiny comes as Pakistan's Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, has been on a mission to "clean up" the government. Chaudhry called on election officials last week to make sure all candidates are fully qualified.
The screeners will have to scrutinize 17,186 candidates running for 849 contested seats in the federal lower house and four provincial legislatures.
Though Pakistan's constitution requires lawmakers to have an "adequate knowledge of Islamic teachings and practices," this requirement wasn't enforced in past elections.
In the run-up to May's election, many politicians filing their candidacies are being asked to recite verses of the Quran or prayers. So far, no one has been reported to have been disqualified over the issue.
However, not all politicians embraced the process. Fawad Chaudhry, a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party, said the only purpose behind the move is to defame the political class.
Some candidates have been asked to recite the national anthem or undergo a spelling test in English, with words including "economics" and "graduation." Election officials are also examining the financial integrity of candidates, including tax records, the payment of utility bills and bank loans.
Also on Thursday, Ayaz Amir, a newspaper columnist and incumbent PML-N lawmaker, was disqualified from running again because of columns that included approving tales about the consumption of alcohol-which is banned in Pakistan-and a piece that questioned an article in the constitution that first declared the country an Islamic state.
Courts in recent days have imprisoned several legislators over falsely claiming they held university degrees, a requirement in the 2008 election. This week, at least a dozen incumbent lawmakers have been either sentenced to prison, or had warrants issued for their arrest on charges of submitting fake degrees. (ANI)
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