ISLAMABAD: Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has decided to serve a legal notice on the Election Commission for expressing doubts over his academic degree.

This was the first formal reaction from a politician to a list of 298 lawmakers released by the Election Commission raising doubts over genuineness of their degrees because of their failure to provide copies of Matric and FA certificates.

Chaudhry Nisar termed it a drama staged to protect lawmakers who had fake degrees.

He said it was a pity that while parliamentarians and other individuals possessing fake degrees were holding key government positions, ‘a politicised and incompetent’ election commission was making controversial the position of public representatives holding valid degrees.

He said he had done his ‘A’ levels from Atchison College, B.A. from Government College and M.Sc. from Quaid-i-Azam University and claimed that he had provided the relevant record to the Election Commission during the elections held in 2002 and 2008.

He said if the commission wanted to know something more, it should contact these educational institutions.

He said in the presence of his ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels certificates on record of the EC, the demand for Matric and FA certificates was ridiculous.

He alleged that the purpose of the exercise was to make the entire process of verification controversial, confuse the nation and provide a way out to the fake degree-holders.

“What else can one expect from an election commission appointed by Asif Ali Zardari,” he remarked. Creating an impression that his degree was doubtful, Chaudhry Nisar said, was nothing short of a criminal offence.

He said he would initiate legal action against all those trying to save the lawmakers holding fake degrees.