Pakistan's Karachi University deems high court judge's degree invalid after 40 years

ISLAMABAD: The syndicate of the University of Karachi on Sunday cancelled the degree of a high court Judge at the Unfair Means Committee's recommendation, Dawn reported, quoting its university sources.

The announcement came after the alleged "illegal detention" of a syndicate member Raiz Ahmed by three police stations on Saturday, Dawn reported.

Ahmed said that he objected to an agenda which involved Islamabad high court judge Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri's degree which was issued 40 years ago, Dawn reported.

After Ahmed was allegedly kidnapped on Saturday- probably to prevent him from attending the meeting- the meeting went ahead without him and the syndicate decided to cancel the judge's degree, reported Dawn.

A statement by Karachi University, without naming anyone, said, "The members also approved the recommendations of the KU UFM [unfair means] Committee which has proposed cancellation of the degree and enrolment cards of the candidate(s) who were found in unethical and immoral acts."

The fracas started after an application sought information on Jahangiri's LLB degree under Sindh Transparency Right to Information Act, 2016. The application stated that candidate Jahangiri obtained his LLB degree in 1991 under enrolment number 5968.

But, one Imtiaz Ahmed enrolled in 1987 bore the same enrolment number as Jahangiri, while while the transcript for LLB Part I was issued under the name of Jahangiri. Jahangiri enrolled for LLB Part I under enrolment number 7124. The university deemed the degree invalid, claiming that they issue only one enrolment number per degree programme, making it impossible for a candidate to have multiple enrolment numbers, Dawn reported.

Jahangiri had earlier complained to the Supreme Judicial Council about the Chief Justice and said that the Inter-Services Intelligence interfered in judicial affairs. He also said that spy cameras were detected in the bedroom and entrance of a judge's house and the matter was reported to Chief Justice but no action was taken in response, Dawn stated.