LAHORE, March 7: After a gap of two years, the Lahore High Court will take up on March 12 a writ petition challenging the graduation degree of Federal Education and Training Minister Sheikh Waqas Akram who belongs to PML-Q.
Petitioner Hafiz Khalid Mahmood had challenged the graduation and intermediate degrees of Mr Akram in 2010, terming them fake. Mr Akram who was elected from Jhang (NA-89), however, challenged the maintainability of the petition. Imran Sharif is a co-petitioner.
Sources said the Punjab University had yet to provide verification of Mr Akram’s graduation degree to the Higher Education Commission despite its request about two years ago.
Higher Education Commission chairman Javed Leghari told Dawn that the case of Shiekh Waqas Akram was under litigation and the HEC would respond directly to the superior court when asked.
To a question as to why the Punjab University had not yet submitted the verified record of Mr Akram’s degree to the HEC, he said he had no information about this.Punjab University Acting Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Liaquat Ali said he could not provide details of Mr Akram’s degree verification at the moment.
Barrister Umar Riaz, a counsel for Mr Akram, told Dawn that Justice Khalid Mahmood of LHC would hear the case on March 12. To a question about delay in the hearing, he said: “We had challenged the maintainability of the writ petition in the Supreme Court,” he said.
Replying to another question, he said his client had done A-levels, not intermediate, and the Punjab University had verified his BA degree.
The secondary school certificate and computerized national identity card (CNIC) of Mr Akram show different dates of birth, 1977 and 1974, respectively. Barrister Riaz, however, said the Supreme Court in its decision in favour of the minister regarding ‘wrong entry of the date of birth’ had observed that this was common mistake in our system.
On the political front, Shiekh Waqa Akram has been giving assurances to his party leadership that he is not switching the loyalties.
There area reports that Akram may defect to the PML-N once the tenure of the PPP-led government is over. However, a source in PML-N says Mr Akram is also weighing the PPP’s offer to join it in case the PML-N accommodates a candidate of Ahla Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) as Jhang is its (Jamaat) stronghold. “The negotiations of seat-adjustment between the ASWJ and PML-N are underway for some constituencies where the former has the following,” the source says. ASWJ chief Maulana Ahmed Ludhanvi had lost to Mr Akram in 2008 with a margin of a few thousands votes.
