National, Politics

Former Education Minister Sheikh Waqas faked his A-Level certificate!

Sheikh Waqas Akram Fake Degree HolderSheikh Waqas Akram, Pakistan’s former Education Minister has been declared by Cambridge University as having fake A-Level certificate. Pakistan Higher Education Commission (HEC), has also declared his IBCC equivalence certificate as a fake.

Sheikh Waqas had recently joined Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz by leaving Pakistan Muslim League-Q. In 2008 general elections, Mr Akram had been elected as a member of National Assembly from Jhang. He had defeated Ahmad Ludhianvi, the chief of Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat. Mr Akram then went ahead and served as Pakistan’s Education Minister when Pakistan Muslim League-Q formed an alliance with Peoples Party.

It is indeed a shameful moment for Pakistan that even its Education Minister was having fake A-Level certificate. Education Ministry is an important portfolio, and plays an important role in deciding the future course of the educational well being of a country. If the Minister of Education is someone who has faked his basic educational documents, how could we expect any betterment in educational sector. No wonder Pakistan is lagging far behind in this sector and has lowest literacy rate among South Asian countries.

Moreover, this is indeed a huge blow to PML-N which comes at a time when the party is facing a hard time in keeping its grounds due to the increasing popularity of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. The news of Sheikh Waqas’ fake certificates was floating around in different news circles from a long time. However, despite all these accusations, PML-N went ahead and inducted Sheikh Waqas into its folds. Now that he has been declared by HEC as a faker, it is highly unlikely that he will be allowed to contest the upcoming general elections of May 11, 2013. Also, as different other fake degree holders have been sentenced to imprisonment, Sheikh Waqas could very well foresee a similar fate for himself.

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif is reported to have been very upset over the proof of Sheikh Waqas’ fake documents. However, had PML-N not gone blind in its pursuit to recruit as many electables as it could, it would not have faced this embarrassing dilemma.

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