Hypocrisy, impunity and fake degrees

The awarding of a degree to a former PTI MNA Murad Saeed is an example

Sometimes the corruption that lies at the heart of everything that the state and its multiple entities represent is so blatantly obvious that the jaw of even the most cynical observer drops another inch or two. The awarding of a degree to a former PTI MNA, Murad Saeed, is one such. The degree was awarded by University of Peshawar (UoP) Vice-Chancellor Dr Muhammad Asif Khan bypassing all the relevant authorities. The ex-MNA is an influential figure and was clearly of the opinion that a degree was going to enhance his cachet. It appears that Saeed was a student of the UoP department of Environmental Sciences from 2005-2009 but according to the university administration he had not passed his final exams and therefore was not eligible for the awarding of a degree. Internal sources indicate that this matter was to be tidied up with the award of a degree — by a VC who was appointed by the PTI.

The matter came to light when the Pakhtun Students Federation accused Saeed of passing papers on remote sensing, introduction to environmental sciences and ecology in one hour. The paper had been put together for the convenience of Saeed, signed off on by the VC and all were quietly satisfied at the behind-the-arras arrangement that served all of them.

This travesty undermines and devalues just about every benchmark of excellence that exists in the academic world, and indicates that anybody with power and influence can get themselves a degree if they know the right people and can pull the correct strings. These are dishonourable and dishonest actions by men who by rights should adhere to a higher standard of probity by virtue of their positions in public life than the common man. There has been an unpublicised internal inquiry which concluded that the rules had indeed been broken and recommended the cancellation of the result of the fake examination. In a just world Saeed would be stripped of his fake degree. We await developments with close interest.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2018.

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