DEGREE VERIFICATION: I am sure most of the students who graduated in December 2022 are still waiting for their degree verification. The purpose of online degree verification through the portal of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) was to skip red-tapism, but that purpose is not served. The process which used to take around 5-6 days now takes almost a month. I have submitted the application around a couple of weeks ago, but there has been no progress on it. The HEC authorities would do well to streamline the process.

Husnain Rasool
Karachi

SPECIAL EXAMS: A lot is being heard about proposed Central Superior Services (CSS) ‘special examination’, but the worrying part is that the quota for Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) has been scraped altogether as the seats are now shared with regions that used to be part of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). I had been studying hard to appear in the examination, but all my hopes stand shattered. GB candidates should be provided fair treatment.

Muhammad Hasnain Balti
Gilgit-Baltistan

GOLDEN JUBILEE: Pakistan will be celebrating the golden jubilee of the 1973 Constitution on April 10. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) should issue a commemorative coin to mark the day. The SBP had issued a coin of Rs25 to comme- morate the silver jubilee of the Senate.

Abdullah
Islamabad

GAS CRISIS: For the last more than two months, we have been using a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder for cooking and we still do not know when we will be able to have regular, uninterrupted natural gas supply. To have the cylinder refilled time and time again is a challenge in itself, but pales into insignificance when compared to the misery caused by price hike. I wonder when Pakistan will be able to work on gas pipeline projects with neighbouring countries that are pending for many years.

Hajra Rauf
Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2023