Fake degrees case: PM to appear if summoned by SC

PM’s Office says it has not yet received any such notice from the apex court

ISLAMABAD: If the Supreme Court summons for any reason, the prime minister will comply, the Prime Minister’s Office stated on Friday.

According to the PM’s Office, it had not yet received any such notice from the apex court.

“The PM has not received any notice. The PM believes in the implementation of the law and accords utmost respect to the courts. If summoned by the … apex court on any issue, the PM would surely appear before the top court,” said a spokesperson for the PM in a statement.

The press release was issued after reports suggested that the SC had summoned the PM next week in a case relating to alleged fake degrees of airline employees.



On Thursday, media reports suggested that a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had summoned the PM in his capacity as the CEO of Airblue and CEOs of other airlines in the same case.

The chief justice had clarified that Abbasi would be summoned as the CEO of Airblue and not as the PM after Civil Aviation Authority Additional Director Nasir Ali Shah insisted that PM Abbasi was the CEO of Airblue.

However, government officials and Airblue itself later said that while PM Abbasi founded the airline, he was not the CEO, and the actual CEO was Tariq Chaudhary.

The CAA informed the SC on Thursday that 24 pilots and 67 crew-members of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had submitted fake degrees.

A CAA representative asserted that seven out of the 24 pilots had stay orders from courts, adding that degrees of 1,972 PIA employees had been verified.



As many as 17 pilots of the government-run airline resigned or left their posts, but seven of them were still continuing because of stay orders.

The report submitted by Sajid Ilyas Bhatti on behalf of the CAA in the SC stated that none of the pilots in private airlines held fake degrees.

“Of 451 pilots currently employed by PIA, degree certificates of 319 have been found to be genuine. Certificates and degrees of 124 pilots are being verified. Seven pilots with bogus degrees are still working because of stay orders.”