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Fake Degrees Scandal

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HEC starts to feel the heat

* Commission shows dissatisfaction regarding universities’ verification processes

* PU, Sindh University not able to meet HEC’s deadline for verifying parliamentarians’ degrees

By Adnan Lodhi

LAHORE: The arrest of Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Javaid Leghari’s younger brother Farooq Leghari and the ‘non-cooperative attitude’ of some universities have put the HEC left feeling the heat, thus creating doubts that the verification process of parliamentarians’ degrees will not be completed in the coming months.

However, the most disappointing event this week has been the dissatisfaction and reservation expressed by the HEC regarding the verification processes being carried out by some varsities, with the commission having sent back various degrees to universities for re-evaluation. According to the HEC, some universities have been unable to verify the degrees according to the commission’s criteria.

According to educational experts, certain elements not in favour of the verification exercise have been seemingly successful in hindering the process, subsequently forcing the HEC chairman to seek help from Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to resolve various matters and hurdles in the verification process.

On the pretext of his brother’s arrest, and due to pressure from parliamentarians, there are rumors that the HEC chairman may possibly be submitting his resignation to the prime minister. According to sources, the HEC chairman had been receiving threats from some parliamentarians from Sindh and he had, in this connection, written a letter to the prime minister, who thereafter showed his willingness to meet the chairman.

The PM stated that there was no pressure on the HEC chairman from the government and the government would not allow “corrupt parliamentarians” and fake degree holders to be successful in their agendas. The dilemma, however, is that if the HEC chairman actually decides to quit, it is expected that no other official will take the position and stand against these corrupt elements, depriving the Election Commission of Pakistan of its desired results.

In these circumstances, we see that there are two options for the authorities engaged in the degree verification process. For one, the authorities could take action against the administrations of universities that are not cooperating and are using delaying tactics to hinder the verification process.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Education had instructed the HEC to submit the final verification report regarding all degrees by July 16. The HEC, following the instructions, sent the degrees to various universities for verification. However, from all the verified degrees received, the HEC found that only 200 of them had been verified according to proper criteria.

There is also an issue regarding parliamentarians, who had till now not submitted their degrees to the HEC for verification, thus further delaying the entire process.

Although checking degrees is a routine matter for them, some universities are still asking for more time in order to complete the verification process.

The worrisome thing is that it is the varsities’ administrations that are giving a hard time to the HEC and there is a severe need to expose the corrupt officials delaying the process and the elements who are further supporting and guiding them.

Deadline: The PU and Sindh University are among the institutes that were not able to meet the HEC deadline for the degree verification process.

Another thing that can not be ignored is that the varsities engaged in this verification process, especially the PU, are also facing allegations of corruption. High-raking officials, including deans and directors, are allegedly involved in corruption and teachers are said to in pass students illegally.

Corruption stories of teachers who hold PhD degrees have not only astonished the nation, but even the fake degree holders are questioning the recent corruption in inquiries at the PU. The civil society too is demanding that the PU VC complete the process by not engaging corrupt officials, and by not allowing these elements to visit his office or the degree-verification cells until the process is completed.

Although PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran is doing his best to complete the process with transparency, with even the HEC acknowledging his efforts, it is still hard to ignore all the corruption being perpetrated at the varsity. The second solution to overcome this corruption is that the government identifies the parliamentarians who are pressurising the varsities, thus restoring the HEC chairman’s confidence and fully exposing the corruption before the entire nation.

There is a dire need for the government, specially the president and the prime minister, to focus on the issue and to ask the authorities concerned to present their final reports in this regard so that a judicial process can be initiated against fake degree holders.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
 
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July 19, 2010

In a desperate attempt to block the verification of educational qualifications of its members and allies, PPP continues its shameful actions to sabotage the verification process. Earlier this month, Federal Law Minister and close aide of President, Dr. Babar Awan threatened the chairperson of Standing Committee for Education, Abid Sher Ali to back out from the process.

The actions were intensified last week when Sindh police arrested ex-DCO Farooq Leghari, who is coincidentally the brother of Chairman of Higher Education Commission (HEC) Dr. Javed Leghari and leading the verification process. There were earlier reports that Dr. Javed had refused to counter any pressure from the government and has already reported degrees of several members to be fake.

Farooq Leghari was declared missing by HEC chairman on 13th July 2010, and government verified his arrest the next day. His bail was accepted next day and was ordered to be released by special court in Hyderabad, but was re-arrested under fresh corruption charges.

Sindh government intensified their actions against the Leghari family on 17th July, when they conducted a raid on their house, broke the doors, vandalized their belongings arrested 8 domestic workers from their residence. Although Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani claimed that they were not victimizing the family of HEC chairman, but the entire chain of actions against Leghari family had more weight against PM’s statement. It is also reported in that a large number of members of Sindh Assembly could be found to be fake degree holders if their degrees are truly verified by the Sindh University.

Source
 
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Why not just get rid of having to have a degree in the first place......its not fair on the normal average man who can never stand for elections and power in the hands of the few.
 
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^^this is a completely different issue.
Once a law is made, right or wrong, then unless assembly ammends it, everyone has to follow it. These scums, however, find ways to bypass the laws. As they say, Pakistan is a heaven for Parliamentarians (rich in general).
 
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:taz:
Why not just get rid of having to have a degree in the first place......its not fair on the normal average man who can never stand for elections and power in the hands of the few.

No one is required to have a degree to contest elections. The matter is that they have submitted fake degrees to election commission and that is a punishable crime. Also they have lied and broken the law for which they should be punished.

They don't deserve to be parliamentarians.
 
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516 degrees returned as varsities fail to follow HEC guidelines
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Initial report on fake degrees submitted to NA body; 183 degrees genuine, 37 fake

By Saadia Khalid

ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has found 183 degrees of lawmakers genuine and 37 fake, sending back 516 degrees out of the total 736 to universities concerned for re-verification.

The HEC submitted the initial report to the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Education on Monday after the completion of the first phase of verifications of degrees.

According to the initial report, the commission received 736 degrees out of the total 936 degrees of parliamentarians, and 37 of them had been declared fake.

According to sources, it is mentioned in the report that some of the universities did not follow the guidelines established by the HEC for verification.

The universities whose degrees have been sent back for re-verification included the Punjab University, the Balochistan University, Allama Iqbal Open University, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai University, and the University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, Peshawar and Lahore.

The HEC’s report on degrees verification was to be presented in the meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee held on 8th of July, but the HEC requested the standing committee to extend the date.

Commenting on the report, NA Standing Committee on Education Member Justice (retd) Fakharun Nisa said the committee had not taken a decision yet on the issue of fake degrees.

However, she said the standing committee could not disqualify the holders of fake degrees. “The only way through which the lawmakers holding fake degrees could be disqualified is the implementation of Sections 82 and 78 of the Representation of People’s Act,” she added.

Our Lahore correspondent adds: The Punjab University on Monday sent back 63 degrees after verification to the HEC. Of them, four degrees, one of a senator and three of MPAs of the Punjab Assembly, were found fake.

A PU spokesman said of the three MPAs whose degrees had been found bogus, one MPA had already been disqualified while another had resigned as per a court decision. He said the verification report on the remaining 73 degrees would be sent to the HEC on July 27. The spokesman added that eight degrees of parliamentarians, which were returned to the HEC for being vague and illegible, were received by the PU again on Monday.

516 degrees returned as varsities fail to follow HEC guidelines
 
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PML-Q’s Amna Jehangir quits from PA
Updated at: 0618 PST, Tuesday, July 20, 2010


LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q)’s MPA Amna Jehangir formally submitted her resignation in person to the Punjab Assembly speaker on Monday shortly after her degree proved to be fake, Geo news reported late Monday.

She went to the speaker’s Chambers with two of her colleagues, Majida Zaidi and Samina Khawar Hayyat, and tendered her resignation.

Whereby she stated in her resignation that due to her domestic engagements, she was unable to continue her membership of the assembly.

Amna Jehangir was elected on a seat reserved for women on the ticket of the PML-Q and was considered close to the Chaudhry family.

It is worth noting that Amna’s resignation paves the way for Humaira Awais Shahid to return to the Punjab Assembly.

The PML-Q had secured 86 seats in the Punjab Assembly and their share in the seats reserved for the women was 14. Humaira’s name is on number 16 in the list, and she would now be declared the returned candidate.

PML-Q’s Amna Jehangir quits from PA - GEO.tv
 
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Chairman HEC calls on President Zardari
Updated at: 1015 PST, Wednesday, July 21, 2010

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) Javed Laghari called on President Asif Ali Zardari here at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Tuesday, Geo news reported.

The meeting witnessed discussion on the issues pertaining to fake degrees of parliamentarians.

According to president house sources, the sitting continued for not more than 20 minutes.

During the meeting, the Chairman HEC Javed Laghari apprised President Zardari of the procedure adopted by the commission for verification of degrees, sources said.

The development projects being carried out under HEC also came under discussion during the meeting, sources added further.

Chairman HEC calls on President Zardari

---------- Post added at 11:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:44 AM ----------

7-21-2010_108891_l.gif
 
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PML-N MPA Saima Mohiuddin also holds fake degree
Updated at: 1915 PST, Wednesday, July 21, 2010

LAHORE: It has surfaced that Saima Mohiuddin, a Punjab Assembly member of Pakistan Muslim League-N, also holds a fake degree.

Punjab University sent reports to Higher Education Commission of verification of 19 more degrees of which 18 were declared valid and one fake. The fake degree belonged to Saima Mohiuddin who is a Punjab Assembly member of PML-N who hails from Muzaffargarh.

The University has sought result cards of intermediate in connection with the scrutiny of 18 degrees.

Punjab University has so far completed verification of 280 degrees and sent to HEC, of which 11 were found to be invalid.

The university still has 78 degrees that remain to be scrutinized. Of these 16 degrees lack the supporting documents.

PML-N MPA Saima Mohiuddin also holds fake degree
 
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what abt the MNA who passed MA in 2006, BA in 2007 and Matric in 2008!!!:rofl::rofl::rofl:how stupid can you get!
 
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Degrees of another four lawmakers found bogus

LAHORE: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has declared degrees of another four lawmakers as fake, a private TV channel reported on Wednesday.

According to official sources, degrees of two National Assembly members (MNAs) of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Ramesh Lal and Ghulam Mustafa, have been found to be bogus, while the degree of Balochistan Assembly member Bakhtiar Khan has also been invalidated. The degree of Punjab Assembly member of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Saima Mohiyuddin, who belongs to Muzaffargarh, has also been declared bogus.

The Punjab University on Wednesday sent verification results of 19 degrees to the HEC, of which 18 were declared valid and one was found to be bogus. The university has also sought Intermediate-level result cards from 18 lawmakers to verify their degrees. The university still has to verify 78 degrees, of which 16 lack the supporting academic documents, the channel reported. On the other hand, the Karachi University has confirmed the validity of 14 degrees of lawmakers and declared the degrees of Shama Mithani and Muhammad Khan suspicious. daily times monitor
 
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Eight ministers have fake degrees


Thursday, July 29, 2010

By Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: Degrees of at least eight federal and provincial ministers have so far been found fake or invalid by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) but this number is expected to go further high as degrees of more than 800 parliamentarians are yet to be verified.

As the process of verification progresses, the degrees of Syed Faisal Raza Abidi, Political Assistant to President Asif Ali Zardari and Minister of State Nabeel Gabol have been found genuine. Both have been formally cleared by the HEC. However, President Zardari’s sister and chairperson of the PPP’s women wing Faryal Talpur has not yet been cleared.

Faryal Talpur showed that she did her graduation from the University of Sindh in 2003 when she was Nazima of Nawabshah district. She got elected as District Nazima in 2001, whichmeans that during her tenure as Nazima she graduated from the University of Sindh, which has not been found cooperating with the HEC in the verification process.

The University of Sindh in its recent letter addressed to the Speaker National Assembly sought from the latter copies of the degrees of 38 MNAs including Faryal Talpur.

Federal Minister for Railways Haji Ghulam Muhammad Bilour is also reflected as the graduate of the Sindh University. What, however, makes his case interesting is the fact that he did his BA from the university in 2005. Another recent alleged graduate of the same University Hayatullah Khan Tareen, who has recently resigned, showed to have done his BA from the University of Sindh in 2006.

Former federal minister Nawabzada Khawaja Muhammad Khan Hoti has also shown that he did his BA from the same university in 2005.

According to the HEC sources those whose degrees have already been declared fake or invalid (from non-chartered university) include at least eight federal and provincial ministers including federal ministers Senator Mir Israrullah Khan Zehri and Humayun Aziz Kurd; Sindh cabinet member Nawabzada Mir Nadir Magsi; two Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ministers Haji Sher Azam Khan Wazir and Syed Aqil Shah; and three Balochistan ministers including Ms Shama Parveen Magsi, Abdul Samad Akhunzada and Muhammad Khan Toor.

No minister from the Punjab cabinet has yet been identified having fake or invalid degree. However, senior minister KPK Rahim Dad Khan’s degree is also in question in the court of law.

Besides the above eight ministers, those whose degrees have been declared fake or invalid so far by the HEC include Senators Nawabzada Muhammad Akbar, Wali Muhammad, Mohabat Khan Marri, Gul Muhammad Lot and Mrs Rehana Yahya Baloch; MNAs Syed Muhammad Sulman Mohsin, Syed Akhunzada Chitan, Hayatullah Khan Tareen, Ghulam Dastagir Rajar, Mazhar Hayat, Syed Javaid Hussain Shah, Ahmadan Khan, Nasir Ali Shah, Molvi Haji Rozi Uddin and Molvi Agha Muhammad; Punjab Assembly members Waseem Afzal Gondal, Ms Samina Khawar Hayat, Ms Saima Khar, Shafiq Ahmad Gujhar, Ms Saima Aziz, Muhammad Safdar Gill, Zulfiqar Ali, Sardar Meer Badshah Khan Qaiserani, Ms Afshaan Farooq, Seemal Kamran, Ms Farah Deeba, Syeda Majida Zaidi, Ms Shamaila Rana, Nasim Nasir Khawaja and M Ijaz Ahmad; KPK Assembly members Kishwar Kumar, Khalifa Abdul Qayyum Khan, Gulistan Khan and Sardar Ali; Balochistan Assembly members Haji Ali Madad Jattak, Nawabzada Tari Magsi, Ms Rubina Zafar Zehri and Yar Muhammad Rind.

In the Sindh Assembly no degree except the one belonging to the above-mentioned minister, has been found fake so far.
 
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