199 lawmakers in Pakistan yet to submit proof of education

At least 199 lawmakers in Pakistan are yet to submit proof of their educational degrees for verification by the country's Higher Education Commission (HEC), a media report said Sunday.

The Supreme Court had ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in June 2010 that degrees of all parliamentarians should be verified, the Dawn reported.

Those yet to submit their degrees include Federal Minister Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, among others.

Cases related to fake degrees against 19 MPs including Federal Minister for Education and Training Sheikh Waqas Akram and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial minister Rahimdad Khan are pending in various courts.

An ECP official said letters were sent to all the lawmakers, asking them to submit proof of their degrees, but even after two and half years, 199 MPs did not bother to do so.

The vice chancellor of Gomal University in Dera Ismail Khan was sacked because he refused to verify the degree of Rahimdad Khan and termed it fake, the daily said.