IT was in 2003 that I interviewed two persons (one with a Bachelor's degree and the other with a doctorate) for a faculty position at a new university in Lahore. The unusual names of the universities prompted me to check them on the Internet and my suspicions were vindicated.

The person with the doctorate claimed that he had flown over to London from Canada to do some required practical computer work for six weeks at the American University in London. An Internet search quickly led me to look at its connections in Pakistan. Looking deeper led to many strange connections.

Its website showed AUL-affiliated institutions in Pakistan, all of which looked suspicious. These were brought to the attention of the chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, with a request that the AUL link be investigated.

The Islamabad-based Pakistan Futuristic Foundation and Institute (PFFI) founder obtained a degree from AUL. He has, in turn, supervised the AUL PhD thesis of the current rector of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), also in the capital. Confirmation of this came from the dean of the Faculty of Advanced Integrated Studies (FAIS), Dr Saeeda Asadullah Khan, at NUML. She was in-charge of all PhD research at the university then, and is now the vice chancellor of the Fatima Jinnah University in Rawalpindi.

The FAIS was the brainchild of the founder of PFFI. It probably took shape around the time that PFFI severed its link with AUL, and moved its AUL-registered PhD students to NUML, then known as NIML ('I' stood for Institute).

Three NUML PhD theses were available in the HEC's library, but not in NUML's. The dean of FAIS told me that NUML would only make them available in their own library after the convocation was held. NUML, in late 2004, had not had any convocation since November 2000 (when it awarded the first PhD), which ought to be an annual event for any good, functioning university.

It struck me that NUML has awarded PhDs in record time. Prior to May 29, 2000, NUML was an institute (named NIML) affiliated with the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU). PhDs were awarded to two English department professors (one of them the department's head) in November 2000 and May 2001. That's a PhD in six months after getting chartered.

More seriously, the head of the University Grants Commission (UGC) from 1997 to 2001 managed to get a PhD in education in June 2001 from NUML. His thesis had been submitted to NUML through the PFFI. On relinquishing charge at the UGC he moved to the vice-chancellorship of QAU. It was during his term of service at the UGC that NIML's charter was considered, and that's exactly when he was registered as a student there. The conflict of interest is obvious! The UGC (that later became HEC) is an institution which funds universities and gives recommendations for the award of a charter to a university.

If the work on the three theses started prior to NIML getting a charter, their outline of research work required approval by the QAU's board of advanced studies and research, of which NIML was an affiliated institute prior to May 2000. That no reference to any NIML theses exists at QAU was confirmed by a notable academic with access to such records there. According to the same person, NIML may not have authorisation from QAU to offer any degree above a Master's degree.

In late 2004 I wrote that NUML had now many thousands of students, with several hundreds registered in the MPhil and PhD programmes in many subjects, according to one of its faculty members. Here's an institute that lies in the shadow of the HEC, the body empowered to maintain standards in our universities. The way out of the current mess is clear, but it will require great resolve and courage. Let's hope that it exists. The recent manhandling of a professor on campus and the callous response of the administration shows that nothing has changed in the last six years.

Other old fears have now become a frightening reality. Around 2004 I wrote two letters to Chief Justice (retd) Irshad Hasan Khan, the then election commissioner. This was a cushy position (occupied from January 2002 to January 2005) provided by Gen Musharraf in return for favours done when the judge headed the Supreme Court and for ensuring dampening of any possible turbulence in the electoral process.

My letters requested that the original degree certificates of all aspiring parliamentarians be certified by the HEC. I never heard back from the former chief justice. Things have now, however, changed, with exposure of the huge number of fraudulent degree cases, the power of the Supreme Court and the brave stand of PML-N MNA Abid Sher Ali despite opposition within his party and the warning of an influential federal minister.

Continuous pressure on the HEC, whose past record in such matters is lacklustre, is needed. It needs to be provided with originals of degrees and a timeline demanded for the result of the verification. Current estimates leaked to the press by insiders are unreliable; clear, honest, official statements need to be demanded.

In parallel, the election commissioners (post-Musharraf) who failed to adequately verify the degrees ought to be questioned by the Supreme Court for having violated their terms of reference. This is exactly what friend Naeem Sadiq and I have demanded in our letter to the present Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. The serious negligence of the election commissioners, for which they ought to be accountable, has allowed corrupt parliamentarians to fleece the exchequer as regards their salaries and gain far more through perks and corruption.

When nearly one-sixth of parliamentarians have allegedly used fraudulent certificates and lied to become legislators, one needs to question the validity of the current parliament. It has been polluted by those who have committed fraud and others who have actively encouraged or tolerated it. A clean fair mid-term election is called for, which must be held under the close supervision of trusted bodies such as the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and foreign observers. It is clear that the election commission cannot be solely trusted with this duty.

The writer is an Islamabad-based educator and environmentalist.