Pak eight ministers have fake degrees

 By Ansar Abbasi in The Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Degrees of at least eight federal and provincial ministers have so far been found fake or invalid by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) but this number is expected to go further high as degrees of more than 800 parliamentarians are yet to be verified.

As the process of verification progresses, the degrees of Syed Faisal Raza Abidi, Political Assistant to President Asif Ali Zardari and Minister of State Nabeel Gabol have been found genuine. Both have been formally cleared by the HEC. However, President Zardari’s sister and chairperson of the PPP’s women wing Faryal Talpur has not yet been cleared.

Faryal Talpur showed that she did her graduation from the University of Sindh in 2003 when she was Nazima of Nawabshah district. She got elected as District Nazima in 2001, whichmeans that during her tenure as Nazima she graduated from the University of Sindh, which has not been found cooperating with the HEC in the verification process.

The University of Sindh in its recent letter addressed to the Speaker National Assembly sought from the latter copies of the degrees of 38 MNAs including Faryal Talpur.

Federal Minister for Railways Haji Ghulam Muhammad Bilour is also reflected as the graduate of the Sindh University. What, however, makes his case interesting is the fact that he did his BA from the university in 2005. Another recent alleged graduate of the same University Hayatullah Khan Tareen, who has recently resigned, showed to have done his BA from the University of Sindh in 2006.

Former federal minister Nawabzada Khawaja Muhammad Khan Hoti has also shown that he did his BA from the same university in 2005.

According to the HEC sources those whose degrees have already been declared fake or invalid (from non-chartered university) include at least eight federal and provincial ministers including federal ministers Senator Mir Israrullah Khan Zehri and Humayun Aziz Kurd; Sindh cabinet member Nawabzada Mir Nadir Magsi; two Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ministers Haji Sher Azam Khan Wazir and Syed Aqil Shah; and three Balochistan ministers including Ms Shama Parveen Magsi, Abdul Samad Akhunzada and Muhammad Khan Toor.

No minister from the Punjab cabinet has yet been identified having fake or invalid degree. However, senior minister KPK Rahim Dad Khan’s degree is also in question in the court of law.

Besides the above eight ministers, those whose degrees have been declared fake or invalid so far by the HEC include Senators Nawabzada Muhammad Akbar, Wali Muhammad, Mohabat Khan Marri, Gul Muhammad Lot and Mrs Rehana Yahya Baloch; MNAs Syed Muhammad Sulman Mohsin, Syed Akhunzada Chitan, Hayatullah Khan Tareen, Ghulam Dastagir Rajar, Mazhar Hayat, Syed Javaid Hussain Shah, Ahmadan Khan, Nasir Ali Shah, Molvi Haji Rozi Uddin and Molvi Agha Muhammad; Punjab Assembly members Waseem Afzal Gondal, Ms Samina Khawar Hayat, Ms Saima Khar, Shafiq Ahmad Gujhar, Ms Saima Aziz, Muhammad Safdar Gill, Zulfiqar Ali, Sardar Meer Badshah Khan Qaiserani, Ms Afshaan Farooq, Seemal Kamran, Ms Farah Deeba, Syeda Majida Zaidi, Ms Shamaila Rana, Nasim Nasir Khawaja and M Ijaz Ahmad; KPK Assembly members Kishwar Kumar, Khalifa Abdul Qayyum Khan, Gulistan Khan and Sardar Ali; Balochistan Assembly members Haji Ali Madad Jattak, Nawabzada Tari Magsi, Ms Rubina Zafar Zehri and Yar Muhammad Rind.

In the Sindh Assembly no degree except the one belonging to the above-mentioned minister, has been found fake so far. www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=30371

 

2. Flash floods, rains leave 50 dead in KP, Fata

PESHAWAR, July 28: Flash floods and torrential rains wreaked havoc in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas on Wednesday. At least 50 people were killed and a large number of houses and bridges were destroyed.

Several schools, roads and mosques in northern parts of the province were washed away.

Shangla, Dera Ismail Khan, Swat, Tank and North Waziristan Agency were the worst affected areas. Large areas were cut off in different parts of the province.

Gas supply from Gurguri oil and gas field in Karak district to Punjab and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was suspended after hill torrents damaged the main transmission line near Yaqobi Kalla, an official of the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company said.

Hundreds of houses in low-lying areas were partially damaged. An official of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) in Peshawar said that relief goods had been sent to some areas. He said that 124 houses were completely or partially damaged in southern districts.

The PDMA issued warnings to the administration of all 24 districts in the province to prepare themselves for any emergency.

Officials said that 21 people were killed in rain-related incidents in Shangla district where heavy floods and landsliding damaged dozens of houses. Among the victims were nine members of one family, including women and children.

They died when their house in Daire union council collapsed. Two deaths were reported from Yakh Tangi and four monkey trainers drowned in Banda area.

Flash floods also played havoc in North Waziristan, killing nine people and injuring several others. Houses collapsed and power supply in many areas of was suspended.

Officials said that two people were killed in Tank and two deaths were reported from Karak.

Police said that five children were killed and four others injured when a makeshift shelter collapsed in Badbar area of Peshawar. Rainwater submerged low-lying areas of the provincial capital which got 55 millimetres of showers in 24 hours.

Three people were killed in Khyber Agency and a school building collapsed due to soil erosion. The Swat River is in high flood. Officials reported three deaths in Mingora.

Twenty houses and a primary school were swept away in Bahrain area of Swat.

Widespread rainfall also caused devastation in Mansehra and Battagram districts where seven people, three of them women, were killed.

Three people died in Mardan and Charsadda in rain-related incidents. Heavy rains inundated over 200 houses and buildings in Bannu district. Authorities sent three ambulances and medicines to the affected areas. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/flash-floods%2C-rains-leave-50-dead-in-kp%2C-fata-970

 

3. Attique to be sworn in as AJK PM today

MIRPUR: Muslim Conference President Sardar Attique Ahmed will be sworn in as the new prime minister of Azad Jammu Kashmir during an oath taking ceremony to be administered by President Raja Zulqarnain Khan at the President House in Muzaffarabad today (Thursday), official sources said on Wednesday.

However, prior to that Attique would be required to take a vote of confidence from the Legislative Assembly which would meet on the same day. It is pertinent to mention that Attique is the only candidate that emerged for the top slot of leader of the house, as no one had filed nomination papers by the stipulated time (6pm on Tuesday).

Talking to reporters, Legislative Assembly Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir termed the scheduled session (of the state assembly) unconstitutional, summoned without advice from acting Prime Minister Farooq Haider. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\07\29\story_29-7-2010_pg7_6

 

4. 152 die as plane crashes in rainy Pakistan hills

ISLAMABAD, JUL 29 - A passenger jet that officials suspect veered off course in monsoon rains and thick clouds crashed into hills overlooking Pakistan's capital Wednesday, killing all 152 people on board and scattering body parts and twisted metal far and wide.

The Airblue jet's crash was the deadliest ever in Pakistan, and just the latest tragedy to jolt a country that has suffered numerous deaths in recent years due to al-Qaida and Taliban attacks. At least two U.S. citizens were on the plane, which carried mostly Pakistanis.

The plane left the southern city of Karachi at 7:45 a.m. for a two-hour flight to Islamabad and was trying to land when it lost contact with the control tower, said Pervez George, a civil aviation official. Airblue is a private airline based in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city.

The aircraft, an Airbus A321, crashed some 15 kilometers from the airport, scorching a wide stretch of the Margalla Hills, including a section behind Faisal Mosque, one of Islamabad's most prominent landmarks.

Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said the government did not suspect terrorism. www.ekantipur.com/2010/07/29/south-asia/152-die-as-plane-crashes-in-rainy-pakistan-hills/319400/

 

 

 

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