Verification of academic credentials: Special committee to convey MPs’ concerns to CEC
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). – File Photo
ISLAMABAD: A special parliamentary committee headed by Parliamentary Affairs and Law Minister Farooq H. Naek will hold a meeting with Chief Election Commission Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim on Thursday on the issue of verification of sitting lawmakers’ academic credentials.
This was decided during a meeting of the committee held here on Monday in the law minister’s chamber.
Talking to Dawn, Mr Naek said the committee had decided to have an audience with the CEC and convey him the concerns of parliamentarians on the issue.
Answering a question, the minister said: “We are not against the verification of degrees but the process has to be reasonable. Instead of setting a deadline, we will request the CEC to let lawmakers complete verification process of their academic certificates at their own.”
The meeting was attended by Syed Naveed Qamar of PPP, Bushra Gohar of ANP, Zafar Beg Bhittani and Zahid Hamid of PML-N.
Mr Naek said the committee constituted by the speaker of National Assembly on Friday had been given the mandate to convey concerns of lawmakers to the CEC.
Last month, the CEC sent letters to parliamentarians, asking them to get their academic certificates attested by the Higher Education Commission, otherwise criminal proceedings would be initiated against them.
The minister said there were many lawmakers who for whatever reasons had lost or misplaced their academic certificates and they needed time to get them reissued.
Talking to Dawn, a member of the committee, who did not want to come on record, said that instead of spending energies on “dead issues” the Election Commission should focus on the coming elections. The condition of graduation for contesting elections has been scrapped.
He said over 30 lawmakers had already been penalised for providing fake documents since the last general election. Instead of paying attention to parliamentarians whose terms were ending in a couple of weeks, the EC should focus on the scrutiny of candidates in the coming elections, he added.
The issue of fake degrees came to the fore in 2010 when the Supreme Court after sending some legislators home on the basis of their fake documents asked the HEC to verify academic credentials of all members of parliament and provincial assemblies.
The HEC carried out an exhaustive exercise and reported that out of 1,168 legislators, 249 had not provided their matriculation and intermediate certificates, a requirement necessary to validate graduation level education.
Later, the issue had died down.
However, the CEC last month sent letters to those 249 lawmakers out of the blue, asking them to provide certificates of their matriculation and intermediate level education for the verification of their graduation degrees.
If they have nothing to worry about then what’s the committee for……..If my degree is genuine and I apply for a job my boss has all the rights to verify my credentials from the issuing authority……..for god’s sake get these illiterate people out of politics…Imran khan is the ONLY hope left for Pakistan as I see it.and I was never a fan of cricket.
There should be no compromise on education as nobody wants an uneducated member in the assembly. Those who say that they lost their certificates or degrees are not speaking the truth and should not be allowed to contest elections. Mr Farooq H Naek should should understand that there are more important issues requiring immediate attention.
The matter is that the lawmakers occupied chairs by committing fraud therefore they be prosecuted and barred from taking part in any elections. Yes they committed this heinous crime 5 years back but fraud is a fraud whether committed at present or long time ago. The section 62-63 is quite clear.Why Mr. Nike is so upset
what concerns can the honorable members have ? those who are cheats should quit and those who do have genuine degrees and did not lie about their academic qualifications should have nothing to fear and should show their degrees with pride . the cheaters should be sent to jail.
The ECP’s position concerning the degrees is a legal resposability that has to be fulfilled by removing the fake degree holders.
The issue here is not that the condition of meeting certain educational standards is no longer required to be met for contesting in the coming elections, rather it is whether certain individuals cheated and lied their way in a previous election process. If they did, then they need to be held accountable. Sadly, we have become too addicted to the NRO process in every field of life.
Very correct….to be disqualified against clause 62 and 63….which these politicians are scared of….and this was one of Dr. Qadri demand…..
It is not the issue that the graduation is no more a restriction for contesting the election. The issue at hand is that these lawmakers swindled the ECP and made false statement to get elected. They have violated the constitutional requirement of truthfulness so they ought to be disqualified.
Can someone verify Zaradri’s documents? He has declared qualifications from institutions in the U.K which do not exist.
InshaAllah he will also get disqualified once he is re- nominated for President in Sept 2013…..as per clause 62 and 63 of constitution……
Time needed to get the lost degrees re-issued ? Oh no, as it was way back in 2010 when the Supreme Court had ordered for it. If the so-called “lost” degrees were not got reissued by the members of the national as well as provincial assemblies it clearly means that they were not interested
in carrying out the SC instructions. The EC needs to keep the above point in mind before considering any request for letting the legislators to do it at their convenience without setting any time limit. The EC would loose peoples confidence and trust if it goes on agreeing to such non-sense type of proposals which are nothing but an attempt to remain out of any scrutiny. Even if this degree requirement is not there for next elections, but still the sitting assembly members have to submit their verified degrees in support of their claim that they were / are not cheat and thugs.