Selection commission 2002 Dawn 5

The Selection Commission of Pakistan

Of the many gifts given to the nation by the 2002 Election Commission of  Pakistan , there were some 68 odd fake degree holders and an equal number of those who were either loan defaulters or had their loans written off.  Many others had the  dubious distinction of being wanted in criminal cases.  It was common knowledge that fake bachelor degree certificates were officially  provided to many from the King’s party and the ‘madrassa sands’ were overnight upgraded to degree level to accommodate a large number from the religious tribe. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) raised no voice against this official lowering of education standards.  The Election Commission conveniently looked the other way when scrutinizing the credentials of these parliamentarians, as they were badly needed to act as  rubber stamps in Pakistan for the next five years.   As expected, many of these con men  rose to great heights, becoming heads of various ministries, chancellors of universities and governors of provinces. Thus for five long years, the people of Pakistan were forced to suffer these spurious  MNA and MPAs, who floated in the corridors  of power in the same ratio as the spurious drugs in the market.

There were citizens who repeatedly approached the Election Commission and the  Higher Education Commission to review and scrutinize the credentials of these shady individuals and unburden the     conscience as well as the exchequer of Pakistan, by unseating those whose degrees were fake or had issues with loan defaulting or indulgence in crimes.  Despite these repeated requests, the Election Commission and the HEC refused to budge. Their response was bureaucratic and clerical, indicating utter disinterest and helplessness.  The fact that these two Commissions were ultimately and solely responsible for weeding out this junk,  never dawned upon them and they kept on expressing feigned  naiveté  each time the matter was brought up to them.

It is once again the winter of elections.  We have the original judges under house arrest,  a PCO ed  Election Commission and a brand of new judges, intoxicated with ‘PCO  elixir’ that provides job security for the next five years or  next PCO – which ever comes first.  The eligibility of candidates and their credentials is being scrutinized  under the umbrella of a Personal Constitutional Order (PCO).  We are therefore utterly vulnerable to the insatiate appetite  of a single person who would like to have a parliament that could obligingly  indemnify his acts of playing football with the constitution.  The fake degrees, the loans  and the crimes of candidates would hardly be issues of consequence before such an obsequious ‘PCO compliant’ Election Commission.  Thus we will  once again suffer the calamity of fake degree holders, loan defaulters and criminals who will be our rulers for the next  five years.

It is precisely for this reason why we as citizens ought to insist on retroactive recall of PCO,  the restoration of judiciary and holding of  elections under an impartial Election Commission.  We must demand that the Election Commission  should ask all potential MNAs and MPAs to submit their original  degree certificates,  which should be passed on to the HEC for scrutiny and clearance. Likewise the State Bank should  scrutinize these gentlemen for loan defaults, the police for criminal cases  and the tax department for payment of due taxes.  Finally these documents, facts and figures should be publicized in national newspapers for public to know the profile of their future leaders, and to point out  the erroneous  declarations, if any.  The Election Commission and HEC must be held accountable if it is discovered at a later stage that a bad fish was allowed to pass through their net.  The people of Pakistan must vote for only those political parties who insist on retroactive recall of PCO, restoration of  judiciary and an independent Election Commission as a  prerequisite for the January election.  Not willing to undertake these steps would  only mean yet another five years of misrule by spurious  politicians, whose fake degrees and criminal cases were conveniently overlooked  by  the 2007 Selection Commission of Pakistan.

Naeem Sadiq

Dawn Dec. 2007