Pakistani politicians: fake it to make it
By Rania Abouzeid, July 8, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010 - 9:46 AM
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and hounded by an insatiable media, Pakistan's ruling class is
embroiled in a fake degrees scandal that could oust more than 10 percent of
federal and provincial lawmakers and precipitate a mid-term election at a time
when weak civilian authorities are already grappling with a rickety economy and
robust militancy.
The issue came to the fore late last month, when the Supreme Court ordered
the Higher Education Commission to vet the credentials of all 1,170 federal and
provincial lawmakers, after more than a dozen MPs were found to have lied about
their academic qualifications. Now, barely a day goes by without yet
another expose in the press about some lawmaker who faked it to make it.
The academic requirement for parliamentarians was introduced by former
President Pervez Musharraf ahead of the 2008 polls. Although President Asif Ali
Zardari's government later waived it, the Supreme Court has ruled that the
credentials of anyone who was elected in the last round at the ballot box must
be checked.
The fallout has produced some eyebrow-raising statements, perhaps none more
shocking than the unapologetic utterances of Baluchistan's
chief minister, Nawab Aslam Raisani. "A degree is a degree, whether fake or
genuine! It makes no difference!" he said prompting outrage from media
commentators. Yesterday he said he was surprised by the strong reaction to his
comment. "In a lighter mood, I had passed that remark on the hot issue of fake
degrees, but television channels and newspapers portrayed it as if I was their
supporter," he told
The News. Nonetheless, he still maintained that "whether genuine or fake, both
are called degrees."
Other embattled lawmakers created a ruckus in Wednesday's session of the Punjab
Assembly after political friends and foes alike angrily banded together to
blame the media for reporting on colleagues with fake degrees. According to the
mainstream Dawn newspaper, legislators sought
legal means to muzzle the media and referred to an "unholy alliance between the
generals, judges and journalists" to malign politicians. They also demanded
that generals, judges and journalists' degrees be verified as well. Several
burst into tears while calling for a boycott of television appearances until
the owners of the channels apologize to parliamentarians they have "defamed."
While the Pakistani media can -- and often does -- spin a story with few
verifiable facts, blaming the messenger might come across as a little
self-serving in this case. Several bloggers have already called out the
"selfish aims" of politicians trying to thwart inquiries. "I am ashamed to call
many of them my leaders," Kalsoom Lakhani wrote
on her blog, CHUP.
The scandal appears to cut across party lines, and as such there is growing
pressure to quickly pass an amnesty law absolving the accused. The National
Assembly's Standing Committee on Education was
meeting Thursday to decide whether or not to continue with the verification
process in light of the tremendous pressure from political parties.
At the same time, the Election Commission is reportedly
mulling criminal charges against lawmakers guilty of forging their degrees,
while Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has called for a lifetime
ban on fake degree holders "from contesting elections and holding any public
office."
But JI has its reasons for pushing such a penalty; it, like Imran Khan's
Tehreek-e-Insaf, both boycotted the 2008 polls and might be banking on a strong
showing at any sudden mid-term ballot. But for now, the focus is on ferreting
out those with phony academic papers. What happens to them may depend on deals
lawmakers from across the political spectrum hatch to save their own party
members.
Rania Abouzeid is an independent journalist based in Islamabad.
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