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| The shame of fake degrees |
Thursday, July 22, 2010
S Khalid Husain
If there were half as many coal pits in Thar as the pits into which Pakistan has been led by its present rulers, the country would lick the power crisis.
While there is probably not a single coal pit in Thar, the number of pits into which the country has been pushed by its current minders would be the envy of any coalminer. These are the pits of galloping corruption, racing inflation, increasing poverty, growing despair, the horrific energy situation, the looming water crisis, dwindling exports, mounting indebtedness, ineffective governance, worsening bigotry, expanding terrorism, the rulers' profligacy…, the list goes on.
The newest pit to become exposed is that of fake degrees. Unluckily for them, it is mainly the parliamentarians who have tumbled into it. Fake degrees are a measure of the descent of the country's politicians and parliamentarians into ignominy. Even worse are the measures being adopted by the rulers to "rescue" the parliamentarians. These measures have turned parliament, as an institution, into an object of mockery and scorn.
The rulers are using unheard-of tactics and devices to help these parliamentarians climb out of the pit of fake degrees. These include arm-twisting of academic institutions, delaying response to requests by the Higher Education Commission to verify the academic certificates of parliamentarians, and harassing the brother of the HEC's chairman.
In their latest moves, which remind you of the movie To Catch a Thief, the rulers appear ready to involve in the verification process the federal law minister who himself sports a "doctorate" from a fake university. They also appear ready to involve the federal education minister, who makes light of fake degrees by claiming that these should be no problem since the same people will be elected again, fake degrees or genuine.
The verification reports, with the worthy law minister with the fake doctorate playing a role in procuring these, will be required to be forwarded by the HEC through the very education minister who says "fake degrees are no problem," not directly to the parliamentary committee. As if all this were not enough, the Election Commission of Pakistan has chipped in with the statement that it is the commission which should be verifying the degrees, not the HEC. Why the Election Commission did not do so in the first instance? This is not the kind of questions anyone is encouraged to ask.
If they don't approve of all this, the parliamentary committee or the HEC, can take a hike. Who says parliament is not sovereign? Or higher education is not a serious purpose?
While all the above is going on, the coalminers with a billion dollars in hand have to just wait, although they are trying desperately to draw the rulers' attention to coal pits and coal-fired power plants in Thar.
There are also those who, like hired guns, have saddled up to ride to help the parliamentarians thrashing about hysterically in the pit of fake degrees. Their first shot is at the graduation condition to contest elections, which they claim is not a valid stipulation in a democracy.
Are fake degrees any more wrong, they ask, than splurging on the election campaign far beyond what the rules permit, or with visual self-promotion through billboards, posters, banners, graffiti, and in all other unsightly ways imaginable, or bussing voters to the polling stations against the rules? Are fake degrees worse than cheating on taxes?
The hired guns are right in their first contention. There should not be a graduation requirement in a democracy for any elective office. The only requirements should be the minimum age, possession of a sound mind, and no conviction for felony. If there are unwarranted stipulations, however, such as graduation, the contestants can show their rejection of these by not participating in the elections. What they ignore is that by producing fake degrees to participate in the elections, they are not only confirming their acceptance of the graduation condition. At the same time, they are proving that they are not above cheating, or instituting fraud, and committing felony.
By the same token, are fake degrees any more wrong than some of the other violations of rules at election time? Is holding a fake driving license any more wrong than parking improperly, going beyond the speed limit or running a red light? The first is a felony, the others, at most, serious traffic violations. The use of a fake degree is as much a felony as a fake driving license. Convicted felons are debarred from holding public office in most democracies. In many others they cannot even vote.
Tax evasion is a felony too. Anyone convicted for evasion of taxes pays the price any felon would pay. However, unlike a fake degree, tax evasion is not easy to pin down. Tax lawyers can keep finding loopholes in tax laws, and with convoluted interpretations of the laws, can keep cases going for years, often settling in court on the amount to be paid by their client to have the case brought to an end. On the other hand, fake-degree cases are not hard to prove. They are probably the easiest. It is not possible to end them through a settlement in court.
Why are only parliamentarians being targeted for fake degrees, and not generals, bureaucrats, journalists and others? This is sad defence by legislators. In every democracy, parliamentarians are deemed to have a higher national purpose than generals, bureaucrats, journalists and others. In using the excuse of their being "singled out," and not being counted with the rest, our parliamentarians are in denial of their privileged status. This is not surprising, considering that parliament is crowded by those who are not above cheating by any means, including fraud and fake degrees.
These days, genuine democrats in parliament must have their heads bowed in shame over these goings-on. These are democrats who entered parliament and the provincial assemblies without chicanery and fraud and who believe in the legislature's sovereign status and in the high national purpose accorded them by the voters. They should consider what they can do to help save parliament's honour and dignity.
There are constitutional conditions for a president, such as that he should be a Muslim, regarded as non-political, who has a reputation which is above reproach, and who would serve largely as a figurehead.
However, if someone who did not fulfil these conditions is voted in, someone who insists on functioning both as party head and president of the country, who interferes in the normal conduct of state affairs, such as vetoing the prime minister's decision to change his IT minister, his validity as president should be called to question in court.
A parliament free of fakes is hardly likely to overlook the president's open and camouflaged violations of constitutional stipulations, whereas as a parliament laden with fakes will. Therefore, if there is a wild scramble by the president's men, led by the worthy law minister who sports a doctorate from a fake university, to stop the parliament from being rid of fakes, there are deep reasons for it, and even deeper fears.
The writer is a former corporate executive. Email: husainsk@ cyber.net.pk |
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