Pakistan is home to fake degree scams: Report

The brother of Pakistan's former Army Chief recently resigned from his position as deputy station manager of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) after it was discovered that his educational degree was fake.

This incident highlights the widespread issue of counterfeit degrees in Pakistan, a business with connections to global scams.

Numerous bureaucrats, politicians, and legal professionals have been found in possession of fraudulent qualifications.

Earlier this year, authorities in Pakistan busted a group of scammers who admitted to providing over 250 individuals with fake degrees and marksheets, charging between PKR 1 to 2 million per document.

The lack of strict regulations and enforcement has allowed the sale of fake degrees to flourish across the country, with many prominent individuals suspected of purchasing these falsified credentials.

Iqbal Javed Bajwa, who was stationed in London for PIA, was found to have submitted a forged degree.

He is the brother of former Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa.

This is not the first case of its kind within PIA—659 employees were previously found to have secured their jobs using fake degrees, and in 2020, two PIA officials were arrested for failing to verify their qualifications.

A few years ago, Pakistan’s Supreme Court labeled the fake degree issue as a "global embarrassment" for the nation.

The legal system itself has not escaped the reach of such fraud.

Recently, four advocates from Punjab were discovered to have received degrees from a non-existent university, paying PKR 1 million each.

The complainant, Raja Sohail Shafique, revealed that hundreds of bar association members in Punjab hold fraudulent degrees.

Despite claims of action by the country's investigation agencies, the fake degree business continues to thrive.

It involves not only online institutes but also fraudulent physical schools issuing fake certificates.

Some of these fraudulent institutions, such as the Modern Institute of Informatics and the Johar Institute of Information Technology in Islamabad, have operated openly from the nation’s capital.

The fake degree problem has extended beyond Pakistan's borders.

The Centre of Excellence in Technology and Artificial Engineering in Pakistan (CETQAP), for example, falsely claimed to have built the first quantum computer and offered diplomas.

A researcher, M. Shaheer Niazi, exposed this scam after investigating false claims made by a course instructor.

In an alarming development, the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was linked to this fraud.

Niazi pointed out that the government sponsored the "KP Nojawan Quantum Diploma" associated with CETQAP, calling it one of the biggest educational scams in recent history.

Meanwhile, a petition has been filed against a high court judge, accusing him of holding a fake law degree.

This follows a massive degree scandal nearly a decade ago, exposed by The New York Times, which revealed how the company Axact sold fake diplomas and degrees through hundreds of fictitious universities.

The scandal reached high levels of influence, with even a high court judge losing his job for trying to protect Axact's CEO.

Pakistan's Higher Education Commission (HEC) has previously expressed concerns about the rampant growth of fake degree scams under political patronage.

Mukhtar Ahmed, the former HEC Chairperson, noted that these fraudulent institutions have severely damaged the country’s reputation, saying, “Degrees were being issued like mobile SIMs, but the HEC has tried to control the problem.”

He also suggested that influential figures were behind many of the institutions issuing fake degrees.