PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN: Problems in identifying fake degree holders

Pakistan's Higher Education Commission, or HEC, is experiencing difficulties in identifying parliamentary and provincial assembly politicians holding fake degrees, even after sending the degree documents for verification to universities across the country, writes Adnan Lodhi for the Daily Times.

According to sources in the HEC, the institution is struggling to identify forged documents because of tampering carried out by the fake degree holders. Complications are due to similar names having been written in university records, with the institutions unable to distinguish one from the other. The HEC is now planning to seek help from the government.

Sources from the HEC told the Daily Times that a number of parliamentarians had purchased degrees or tampered with university records with the help of "corrupt officials". They also claimed that parliamentarians, with the help of the corrupt officials, had bargained with real degree holders and obtained ownership of degrees.

See also our special feature: PAKISTAN: The party's over for universities

Full report on the Daily Times site