Questions, and more questions By Ardeshir Cowasjee

Nek Muhammad · #1 Sunday, July 18, 2010

HOW can anyone be surprised by this fake degree scandal involving the country’s legislators that grows by the day as more and more illustrious names creep out of the parliamentary and election commission woodwork?

The falsification of certificates of educational qualification cannot, in this land, be a new practice. It has surely been around for years in all sorts of fields and has now come to the fore because of Gen Musharraf’s totally unnecessary act prior to his Supreme Court-mandated 2002 elections. The logic behind the requirement of a degree to sit in parliament is wonky, when considered democratically, and it was obviously done at the prompting of some wise ‘advisor’ for reasons mala fide.

One thing: at least crooked parliamentarians who have perjured themselves are not a danger to life and limb, though they are a grave danger to the state of the nation, its moral standing, and to its governance, as cheats and liars; they are not the ideal beings to represent the toiling masses and to sit and legislate, or amend the constitution.

Dangerous to life and limb are holders of other fake degrees who have surely been floating around for decades, cropping up in legions as morality has declined, as corruption has galloped, and as fake religiosity has overtaken common sense.

How many doctors practising medicine, with power over life and death, are earning money on forged degree documents? How many innocents are suffering at their hands, even dying? How many bogus dentists are there drilling and pulling the nation’s teeth? How can one ever know? How many engineers involved in building bridges and roads have falsified documents to gain employment? And how about the buildings in our cities, shoddily put together, are a goodly number of them the result of bought or forged documents of qualification held by so-called civil and electrical and other varieties of engineers?

There are other dicey professionals, who may not kill, but can certainly do damage. We know from the case of the cheating parliamentarians, and otherwise, that the legal profession is represented in the fake degree-holding fraternity. For one, we have the man in charge of the law ministry, who has allegedly misrepresented his degree of learning. And we have the reported deranged behaviour of many of the ‘black coats,’ former national heroes, who with impunity terrorise judges, policemen and even their own kind.

Moving on to education, almost a non-starter in this Islamic Republic what with a mere two per cent of its GDP being dedicated to educating the future citizens and leaders of the country, how fare our teachers and professors? How many possessors of forged qualifications inhabit the country’s sparse schools, and how many cheats sit in professorial chairs? How much damage is being done to the minds and morals of the youth of Pakistan by unqualified and dishonest teachers?

Returning to the lying legislators, what is worrisome is that we can be certain that we will never know the true number of persons who have been elected passing themselves off for what they are not. One problem lies with the minions of the election commission who may not be doing the jobs with which they are tasked, having the degree documents of the suspects verified. There is also the factor of the universities, manned as they may be by dishonest verifiers who can be bought. So it’s a no-trust and a no-win situation all round if we are to take into account the moral corruption in which we wallow.

Will those confirmed as cheats and conmen be punished according to law? Or will they resign and go home with the ill-gotten gains amassed after sitting for two years in parliament? Will they be tried and sentenced for committing perjury, which is what they did when they swore their oaths? Will they be hauled up for violating the constitution, which is what they did when they stood for election? Or will all be forgiven and forgotten? As said the chief minister of Balochistan: a degree is a degree whether it be fake or real. Will this be so with all other fakers besides our legislators who operate with impunity in a nation that so far is not even attempting to sort itself out?

Can just one honest legislator not shame the shameless, saying, ‘if they do not resign and leave I will not sit in their midst’? Remember the man who preached the doctrine of non-violence, Mohandas Karamdas Gandhi. He once lamented to Rabindranath Tagore: “I am helpless. They won’t follow me.” Tagore responded: “If they don’t follow, walk alone.” Gandhi did, and within the space of a few paces the nation walked behind him. Breathes there a man amongst us prepared to risk what he is amassing?

Whilst on the issue of morality, in the context of law and order, the party in power has, to its credit, so far been most tolerant towards all criticism levelled at its leadership. It has shown remarkable restraint and reacted only through its various pathetic spokespersons all woefully under-equipped to come up with able repartees.

Dr Javed Laghari, chairman of the Higher Education Commission, is an honourable man whose services to the party were recognised by Benazir. To prevent him from doing the job he has been tasked with, in compliance with Supreme Court orders, he is being subjected to unacceptable and reprehensible pressure via his brother, Farooq, a civil servant in Sindh. The tactics employed to ‘fix’ the chairman are uncouth and clumsy in the extreme — and blatantly shameless. And, even if Laghari manages to hold out, there is no guarantee that the universities will comply with honesty. The bully-boys must be called off.