PAKISTAN: Court orders action against fake degree MPs

Pakistan's increasingly assertive Supreme Court has ordered election authorities to take action against legislators found to have forged higher education qualifications in order to contest the 2008 general elections, writes Zeeshan Haider for Reuters. And the Higher Education Commission has asked universities to verify the degrees of their academic and administrative staff, creating tension, reports the Daily Times.

Pakistani education authorities are checking the academic credentials of parliamentarians amid fears that scores could be disqualified for holding fake degrees, leading to large-scale by-elections.

An official of the Election Commission told Reuters that the Higher Education Commission, which is verifying the degrees of parliamentarians, had learned that at least 35 MPs had not filed their university degrees along with their nomination papers, while the diplomas of 138 members were illegible.
Full report on the Reuters site

The Pakistani Newspaper reports that the presidency has intensified pressure to get the MPs degree verification process stalled. The paper claimed that it had asked Higher Education Commission to freeze its scrutiny of politicians qualifications.
Full report on the Reuters site

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Higher Education Commission has asked universities to verify the degrees of their academic and administrative staff, writes Adnan Lodhi for the Daily Times. Late last month the commission wrote to vice-chancellors of all universities, asking them to direct staff to submit their degrees for verification by 15 July.

According to sources, the move has created tension among administrative officials who were directly appointed by previous governments, many of whose qualifications could be fake. Sources also said the commission had decided to take the new initiative as part of its drive to root out fake degrees, and considered the step an important one since there had been several complaints about fake degrees held by university staff.
Full report on the Daily Times site