ISLAMABAD, May 1 A member of the National Assembly from Rawalpindi is likely to lose his seat after he was allegedly found guilty of examination fraud by an inquiry committee set up by the Pakistan Muslim League-N.

The committee was set up after MNA Haji Parvaiz Khan's nephew was caught red-handed while taking intermediate examinations in his place.

The inquiry committee, comprising Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Parvez Rashid, Begum Nuzhat Amir and Asim Khan Ayazee, was to hold public proceedings, but media personnel were barred after the party decided to hold an “in-camera inquiry”.

The committee started its proceedings late in the evening which were continuing till the filing of this report.

Statements of Haji Parvaiz Khan MNA, Chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Rawalpindi, Prof Mohammad Riaz Akhtar, the board's secretary, Humayun Iqbal, the controller of examinations, Prof Azam Khalid, member of the special inspection committee Dr Naeem Bajwa, superintendent of the examination centre Asmat Ali and deputy superintendent Liaquat Ali Khan, had been recorded.

The regional inspector of examination centres and the principal of the Government Gordon College, Rawalpindi, also deposed before the committee.

Haji Parvaiz had said he would resign if he was found involved in any irregularity. The committee is likely to recommend PML-N president Mian Shahbaz Sharif, who is also the Punjab chief minister, to strip him of his status as a parliamentarian. The MNA is likely to be asked to resign before any action is taken against him.

Dr Naeem Bajwa, who caught Bilal Javed appearing in place of the PML-N parliamentarian, said he had received several threats to his life since the incident.

“I have not met my family members for the past three days ... I am staying with a friend under police protection.”

Mr Bajwa said he was brought to appear before the inquiry committee under protection of a police squad. He said that he had taken away Bilal Javed's mobile phone on which he was talking since the inspection team entered the examination hall.

He said no one could enter the examination centre without the superintendent's consent. “All that was happening illegally was going on with the consent of the superintendent.”

Earlier, the inquiry committee held a separate meeting with officials of Rawalpindi Board, during which it was revealed that Parvaiz Khan had twice failed to clear intermediate examinations as a regular candidate in 2008 and again reappearing in supplementary examination held in the same year. He had enrolled to clear Pakistan Studies and Civics-II for the third time in 2009.

The sources said the statement of Dr Naeem Bajwa and record provided by the board officials would play a decisive role in finalising the committee's recommendations.

The sources said it was clear that no one had played foul against Haji Parvaiz Khan, adding that hand-writing on papers would prove that his nephew had appeared in the exams on his behalf. They said the committee would also take people to task who influenced the change of the chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Rawalpindi, after the scam was unearthed.