Fake degrees feared to be more than expected

ISLAMABAD: The number of fake degree holders in parliament is feared to grow much higher than what was expected earlier as the Higher Education Commission (HEC), which has already found degrees of 57 MPs as fake or invalid, has expressed doubts about 443 MPs who have not submitted their educational certificates despite repeated reminders.

According to the senior reporter Ansar Abbasi, HEC Chairman Javed Leghari, when approached, told The News that he could not pass a verdict on the genuineness of the degrees of those 443 MPs, who despite repeated reminders are not providing their degrees/certificates to the authorities for verification.

Although, Leghari was calculated in his response, the sources in the HEC said that all these cases of 443 MPs are doubtful unless they come up with their required certificates and degrees and get them verified from the HEC.

“In this situation we fear that the number of fake degree holders may go much higher than what we had thought before,” a senior HEC official said, indicating that the HEC was now considering to refer the whole case to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The source said that repeated reminders had been sent to the concerned MPs by the HEC, concerned universities and the Election Commission of Pakistan but a total of 443 members were neither responding nor submitting their certificates and degrees.

The sources said that much doubts about the validity of such MPs’ degrees had arisen after some of the MPs, whose graduation degrees were declared valid by the concerned universities, when insisted to produce their matric and FA certificates, produced fakes certificates.

The source said that the number of fake or invalid degree holders had reached 57 with the latest additions of Makesh Kumar, Sindh Minister Excise; MNA Ameer Ali Shah; a Sindh MPA, Pitanbar Sehwani; Punjab MPA Dewan Ashiq Hussain; Javed Latif and Iftikhar Ahmad.

The source said that the Higher Education Commission has so far verified educational degrees of 538 lawmakers. Among those not yet cleared include the son of the prime minister and Punjab MPA Abdul Qadir Gilani. The sources said that initially, the Punjab University had doubts about the equivalence of his O-level but later it was proven right.

However, now the Punjab University authorities are inquiring another aspect of PM’s MPA son’s qualification. The sources said that the junior Gilani is reported to have been found amongst those over one dozen students who got graduation degrees from the Punjab University but were found to have taken their exam in the examination hall not allotted to them.

These sources said that the Punjab University is presently assessing the fact if the junior Gilani was amongst those students who despite repeated summons issued by the concerned committee of the university never appeared before it but still got the degree.