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ECP declares 27 fake degrees as OK, on its own
HEC chairman says no one except HEC has that right; ECP spokesman says he has no answer to these questions; HEC says degrees of 13,490 candidates of 2008 polls can be verified the same day.
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has been hit by a mega scandal just two weeks before the announcement of the schedule of general elections as the commission has been found to have illegally cleared 27 degrees of sitting MPs which were declared invalid by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
After the Supreme Court judgment to verify the degrees of all parliamentarians in 2010, the HEC had declared 59 degrees as fake and invalid and criminal proceedings were initiated against holders of these degrees, as per the orders of the apex court. However, the ECP has declared 27 out of these 59 degrees as valid and cleared in violation of law and all rules and regulations.
Javed Leghari, Chairman HEC, while talking to The News, said that the HEC was the only authority in the country to declare any degree valid or invalid and no other institution could decide this matter.
If a candidate has managed to take a bogus degree of any recognised institution, it is termed as fake whereas if a candidate has managed to prepare or fake some document/degree in the name of some unknown institution, it will be termed as invalid, the chairman HEC said, adding: There is no difference between a fake or an invalid degree and an invalid is also a fake degree.
Dr Javed Leghari was of the view that if a candidate, instead of faking a degree in the name of a recognized university managed to take/make a degree in the name of some unknown and unrecognized university/institution, that degree will also be a fake degree and cannot be considered as a graduation degree anywhere in Pakistan.
Leghari pressed that the HEC .was the only authority as law of the land to decide validity or invalidity of any education degree. Top sources in the ECP confirmed to The News that present commission had declared degrees of 27 MPs as valid which in fact were declared invalid by the HEC.
These sources confided to The News that only 32 cases were sent to concerned DPOs for initiation of criminal proceedings as per the apex court 2010 judgment in the fake degrees case. Thus, according to these sources, clean chit was given to 27 MPs in sheer and blatant violation of law and rules.
The News contacted ECP Director Public Relations and spokesman Mr Iftikhar on Monday for his version but he showed his inability to answer our questions as he was unaware of the facts and was unable to reach any concerned person.On Tuesday morning, Iftikhar was contacted again and was sent a questionnaire. (This questionnaire was also sent to Chief Election Commissioner, Justice (retd) Fakharuddin G Ebrahim). The questionnaire reads as follows;
Respected Fakharuddin G Ebrahim Sb, AoA, Sir, Plz ask your concerned staff to respond to the following The News queries;
1- How many cases of fake degrees of MPs were received by ECP from HEC after SC judgment in 2010?
2- In how many cases of fake degrees, ECP initiated criminal proceedings (or send such cases to concerned DPOs for criminal proceedings) as ordered by SC?
3- Is it true that ECP has cleared degrees of some MPs which were declared fake or invalid by HEC?
4- How many degrees were cleared (declared valid) by ECP after HEC declared them invalid? Plz provide details of such degrees.
5- Under which law or rules or regulations, ECP can clear an educational degree which is already declared fake or invalid?
I will be grateful if your staff can respond to my questions as early as possible today.
The News repeatedly tried different top ECP officials and Mr Iftikhar to get a response on the above questions but Iftikhar and all other officials showed their inability to respond to any question. However, almost every official (not Iftikhar) contacted by The News confirmed the information, requesting anonymity.
It is up to the Supreme Court which has given the historic judgment to determine now what they will do about the ECP decision. If the practice continued and nothing was done, the credibility of the ECP would suffer a bad hit.
Meanwhile, HEC Chairman Javed Leghari, while talking to The News, said that the commission can verify the degrees of the 13,490 candidates who ran for the national and provincial assemblies elections in 2008, the same day it receives them.
He said that for fair play, the degrees of all the contestants who ran for 2008 elections, won or lost, should be verified and the HEC is capable of verifying these degrees the same day it will receive them.
The News reported on Tuesday that 13,490 candidates for the National Assembly and four provincial assemblies seats filed their nomination papers along with their graduation degrees and more than 2,000 degrees were supposedly fake.
It was also reported that majority of these allegedly fake degree holders are all set to run for the upcoming 2013 elections and as there is no condition for degree now, these candidates will not mention their fake degree qualification which they had mentioned in 2008.
It was also highlighted that neither the HEC nor ECP have so far initiated any action to get these degrees verified. However, now the chairman HEC has held that his commission is more than ready for any verification and will verify any degree the day it will be received.
This throws the whole burden on the ECP to ask all the contestants of 2008 and 2002 elections to get their degrees verified from the HEC as early as possible so that the ECP could avoid any unnecessary burden during the days of hectic election schedule.
According to relevant officials of the ECP, these fake degree holders are still representing their parties or have even switched in some cases and majority of them is present in PML-N, PPP and even PTI.
According to sources in the HEC, the commission maintains records of gazettes of all universities for the last 20 to 25 years and any degree taken from any Pakistani university is verified the same day it is received if the original degrees of matriculation and intermediate are presented.
However, if the degrees are old and not reflected in the gazettes available with the 0HEC or if there are any ambiguities, the degree is sent to concerned university and even in that case, a degree can be declared valid or invalid within seven to 10 days.
Senior ECP officials, however, fear that under political pressure, the ECP will not ask the HEC or contestants of these elections for verification of their degrees.
- See more at: ECP declares 27 fake degrees as OK, on its own - thenews.com.pk
