ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on Thursday declared that the degrees of its elected members, including prominent lawyer and member of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan Ahsan Bhoon, were genuine.

In an official statement, the PBC noted that the returning officers (ROs) for the council’s 2020 and 2025 elections had gotten the elected members’ degrees verified from their respective universities before notifying them as PBC members.

“It is, therefore, clarified that the verification of the degrees of the returned candidates, including that of Mr Bhoon, was undertaken through the relevant universities in accordance with the prescribed procedure,” the council said.

It said that the RO for PBC Election-2020, the attorney general for Pakistan (AGP), had the degrees verified by the universities soon after the elections, following which the successful candidates were notified as PBC members.

Similarly, the RO for PBC Election-2025, also the AGP, again initiated the process of verification of elected members’ degrees. “Some members whose degrees were already verified in the last elections, their degrees too were sent again for verification to relevant universities as well as to the Higher Education Commission (HEC),” the council maintained.

The statement comes over a week after Capt Safdar called for verification of the degrees of prominent lawyers, including Mr Bhoon, a close associate of the law minister.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2026