ISLAMABAD: A private university has declared that a member of provincial assembly (MPA) of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) from Bahawalnagar, Kashif Mahmood, holds a bogus degree of Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA).

The university on the directive of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) submitted a report about the authenticity of the MPA’s educational credentials. In its report the university said that Mr Mahmood had never been its student.

Justice Aamer Farooq reserved his judgement on the matter.

The petition was filed by Abdul Ghaffar, a resident of the Bahawalnagar district. The petition cited the provincial assembly’s secretary, Punjab Assembly’s speaker, MPA Mahmood and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as respondents.

Earlier, ECP counsel Sanaullah Zahid had suggested to the IHC that the educational credentials of the lawmaker should be verified from the university.

In its report, the university states: “The university has thoroughly checked the academic record of Mr Kashif Mahmood, son of Khalid Mahmood, from admission, registration, examination and accounts branches, whether he is supposed to be student of this university in the discipline of “Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) or otherwise”.

The report further states: “The record held in the university reveals that Mr Kashif Mahmood, son of Khalid Mahmood, has neither been student of Al-Khair University Bhimber (AJK) nor graduated in the course of Bachelor of Business Administration.”

It concluded: “That the claim of Respondent No. 4 [MPA Mahmood] that his Detail Marks Certificate (DMC) was issued under Serial No. 1053 and Registration No AUR (BA) 296-2000 by Al-Khair University is not justified.”

The petitioner stated in his plea that the MPA had submitted a fake bachelor’s degree to the ECP to participate in the 2018 general election. He also concealed the facts from the ECP as he did not mention his disqualification in 2013 in the affidavit submitted along with the nomination form, the petitioner added.

The petition said that in 2018 general election, amongst others, Mr Mahmood had participated as a contesting candidate of the PML-N. The ECP declared him as returned candidate for PP-241 Bahawalnagar-V.

It said that being a Member of Punjab Assembly Kashif Mahmood was enjoying all the perks and privileges of his office. The petition requested the court that since the MPA had submitted fake and bogus educational degree to the ECP, he may be disqualified under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution of Pakistan for not being sagacious and honest.

It may be mentioned that in the 2018 general election, Mr Mahmood secured 48,543 votes whereas his opponent from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had received 44,184 votes.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2019