Federal Education Minister Sheikh Waqas Akram, whose educational credentials are allegedly fake, has broken his silence and lashed out at what he called paid touts.
Speaking on a point of order in the National Assembly, the minister said a local paper and an anchorperson of a private TV channel had insulted him.
He said the media was giving air to propaganda against him and he would be issuing a legal notice to the anchorperson for maligning him.
Akram said if he could stand up against activists of banned outfits such as SSP and LJ, he could not be afraid of such “paid touts”, adding that there was a dire need to remove such black sheep from the media.
Per media reports published on Saturday, the education minister did his BA without passing Intermediate examination.
On the other hand, the Higher Education Commission and Election Commission are also sitting silently.
“The minister purportedly passed his BA examination from the Punjab University in 1997. The copy of his degree shows examinations were conducted in 1997 while the degree was surprisingly issued on November 27, 1996. The purported degree also does not bear any roll number or registration number,” the report had said.
Talking to Pakistan Today, HEC Spokesman Murtaza Noor said HEC was currently not in a position to say anything over the education minister’s degree.
“One thing is clear, the minister’s degrees is yet to be verified. When the minister asks us for the same, we will be in a position to say something,” the spokesman said.
However, he said the HEC chairman will issue an official statement in the next couple of days.
Akram slams ‘paid touts’ for maligning him
