Image
of a Trinity College Degree sample and Dr Aamir's (Below left)
Bachelor's degree
Musharraf's
Blue Eyed Religious Affairs Minister Turns Out to be Dr. Fake
By
M A Siddiqui
KARACHI,
March 9: He is the most high profile Parliamentarian of Altaf
Hussain’s Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and is also projecting
himself as Altaf Bhai’s successor, should something happen
to the MQM leader in London.
He
is the blue-eyed boy of General Pervez Musharraf as the General
telephones him after hearing his dramatic preachings on the TV.
He is the most versatile preacher of Islamic values and morals
on home TV screens round the clock. He is a prolific speaker and
a successful fund-raiser for charities. He is a junior Minister
for Religious Affairs in the huge cabinet of Prime Minister Shaukat
Aziz.
But
in addition to all these qualifications, young, dapper and the
stylish member of the National Assembly from Karachi, "Dr."
Aamir Liaquat Hussain, is a fake and a fraud.
In
a stunning investigation by Karachi Urdu Daily “Ummat”
it has been documented and proved that Dr Aamir purchased fake
University degrees to contest the 2002 general election, forced
the Karachi University officials to authenticate these degrees
in a single day and prevented any investigations by the newspaper
to dig deep into the unavailable records at the University.
The
newspaper, however, persisted with the three-month long probe
and was able to obtain the copies of the “University”
degrees Dr Aamir used to make himself eligible to contest the
election for a National Assembly seat on the MQM ticket from Karachi.
He won because of the party ticket and when MQM joined the Musharraf
coalition, he was made a junior Minister of Religious Affairs
in the cabinet.
But
his fame came from his TV show on GEO TV "Aalim Online"
a religious program in which viewers phone in their questions
on Islamic issues and he invites two prominent Islamic scholars
every week to answer these personal and social questions. He also
hosts other religious programs and General Musharraf and his wife
Sehba are so fond of his style of preaching and reciting “Hamds
and Naats”, specially during the month of Ramazan,
that two years ago Sehba Musharraf called him instantly and told
him General Musharraf was crying as he listened to his voice on
TV.
Dr
Aamir did not have a graduate degree in 2002 and according to
the investigation he approached a web site in Spain, The Trinity
College & University, which boasts about providing Bachelors,
Masters or even Doctorate degrees, without attending any class
or college. “Everything by Email” the web site of
the College says right on top with the big slogan: “Get
your degree today.” Click
to View Web site
Dr
Aamir bought his “Bachelor of Arts in
Islamic Studies” degree (Serial No: P-2002227 Dated
March 17, 1995), got his “Master of
Arts in Islamic Studies” degree (No: P-2002341 Dated
March 15, 2002) and his “Doctor of Philosophy
in Islamic Studies” degree (No: P-2002528 Dated April
5, 2002). In what may be a world record worthy of the Guinness
Book of Records. He got his Doctorate in just three weeks after
his Master's degree, if the documents are to be believed.
Daily
Ummat contacted the Karachi University authorities to find
out how these web site Email degrees were authenticated in a single
day, in writing, by the then Registrar of Karachi University,
Prof. NM Aqil Burney. The Registrar received the application from
Dr Aamir on August 24, 2002, days before filing of his nomination
papers for the NA election and authenticated his degrees though
this letter No PA/2002 Dated August 24, 2002. Click
to View the Registrar’s letter of authentication
Prof.
Aqil, however, did leave some elbow room by stating in his letter
that the authentication was “provisional” and the
final decision would be conveyed to the applicant in due course
of time. That decision was neither needed nor taken nor conveyed
to anyone as Dr Aamir had used the provisional certificate to
get himself elected to the Parliament and the matter was forgotten.
When
the newspaper contacted Prof Aqil later to ask how he could issue
the authentication without referring the documents to the Karachi
University’s Equivalence Committee, he admitted that Dr
Aamir had come to him with degrees from some Spanish University
and since these were not degrees issues by his University, he
authenticated them on the spot. His answer was unconvincing to
say the least. Prof Aqil kept no record of these degrees and when
the newspaper contacted the current Registrar to verify whether
any such record was kept, no one could trace the file, as none
existed.
When
the newspaper contacted the Higher Education Commission in Islamabad,
the official authority on the matter, to verify whether the Trinity
College & University of Spain, which issued the degrees to
Dr Aamir, was a recognized institution by Pakistan, Director General
Mohammed Javed Khan informed the newspaper vide a letter Dated
February 23, 2005 that the Trinity College was not recognized.
The letter confirmed the forgery of Dr Aamir and abetment in the
forgery by Prof Aqil to facilitate his candidacy in the election.
Click to view DG’s letter
Daily
Ummat also obtained copies of the degrees Dr Aamir presented
to the Election Commission and during the investigation found
that the Trinity College had placed exactly similar samples on
its web site, offered the same day for a price. (see
images above)
The
investigation leaves Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain, MQM Chief Altaf
Hussain and General Pervez Musharraf in an embarrassing political
dilemma. Musharraf has been promoting Dr Aamir as the heir apparent
of Altaf Hussain himself and the way his curve was rising was
creating serious apprehensions within the MQM circles as well.
For
Musharraf it would be a triple disaster in just a few weeks as
Dr Aamir would be the third cabinet minister who has been caught
literally with his pants down in the middle of the road.
His
supporter, PPP rebel and currently a minister, Faisal Saleh Hayat,
has already been asked by the Prime Minister to resign as his
bail application was cancelled by the Supreme Court and National
Accountability Bureau has to arrest him for unpaid loans. Many
other candidates in the 2002 elections were disqualified because
they were defaulters of loans but not Faisal.
Interestingly
just before the Supreme Court decision to cancel his bail, Faisal
Saleh Hayat slipped out of the country and is now residing in
London, considering his options whether to return to Pakistan
and land in a jail or stay away.
Another
serious embarrassment for Musharraf has been the Health Minister
in the Punjab Cabinet, Dr Tahir Javed who absconded from Nebraska
after causing the worst Hepatitis C outbreak in US history and
who had forced his insurance company and the State of Nebraska
to pay millions of dollars to his victims who sued him.
Now
the show boy of Musharraf, Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain is in the
dock. Scores of seasoned politicians, including former minister
Syeda Abida Hussain of Jhang, were either disqualified or did
not contest the 2002 polls because they did not have graduate
degrees. Now we find that some of those who did, committed a fraud
with the law and the people.
The
biggest embarrassment would, however, be for his GEO TV channel
because he hosts a program which is supposed to teach moral values
to its viewers. The host has now proved to be an immoral person
himself.
