Pakistan: No more fake degrees for politicians

Public sector universities of the Sindh decided to print graduate’ degree papers from the Pakistan Security Printing Corporation Ltd. (PSPCL) to discourage forger degree mafias as they are known to be on the payrolls of senior politicians. This is a bad news indeed for those eyeing an MNA or an MPA slot using their fake degrees as ladders. The public sector varsities were in a fix because of political pressure which started mounting as general and local bodies elections drew closer. Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) sent degrees of politicians for verification to these educational institutes. Those candidates who have applied for government jobs on basis of fake/forged degrees would also be taken to task Pakistan today learnt. The names of graduates’ and their educational degrees would be available in the open market. PT also learnt that many universities were selling degrees against a sum of RS 30000 but when the scribe checked such degrees with the relevant departments of the institutions, the universities had no record of such degrees. Till date, educational degrees of some 105 politicians were declared fake by the Higher Education Commission (HEC). In the fake degree holders MPA/MNA, of Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) top the list with 29 fake/forged degrees, ruling-Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has 26, ruling-ally Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PMLQ) boasts 19, Muttaheda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) amassed 5, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) has 3, Awami National Party (ANP), Balochistan National Party (BNP), National Peoples Party (NPP) have two and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and Muttaheda Qaumi Movement (MQM) have one fake degree holder each in their party. Moreover 16 independent candidates also enlisted fake degrees. Aamir Liaquat Hussain of MQM and a TV host was also making hay with a fake degree. However, he is no longer a member of the party, nor he is the member of the parliament. The degree of Aamir Liaquat Hussain was challenged while he was sitting MNA but MQM forced him to resign to avoid embarrassment. An agent, who sold graduate degrees of public sector varsities of Karachi against Rs 3000, requesting anonymity told Pakistan Today that he was a student of the Sindh highly-dependable Karachi University that “I have got the master’s degree from the university in 2000 and till that day I am visiting varsity on daily basis, he said, adding that I never applied for job in any public or private sector institution because I earn more by selling varsities degrees in a month. “I have original paper that is used by the city’s public sector universities for awarding graduate degrees to its student, he said, adding that I am in partnership with the writers of varsities who write graduate degrees. Without any political support it is nearly impossible to run this high-revenue generating business and I am a political worker and whenever my party assigned me for providing fake degree to any other party worker for contesting election I obliged.”