Musharraf's
Dr Fake Caught in a Web of Lies and Deceit
By
M A Siddiqui
KARACHI,
May 2: Pakistan controversial Religious Affairs junior minister,
the gift of Altaf Hussain’s MQM to General Musharraf, one
who is perpetually present on the Idiot Box, “Dr”
Aamir Liaquat Hussain of the Fake Degrees fame, has once again
stirred the bees nest by making conflicting claims in an interview
to Daily Dawn, weeks after the controversy over his Internet
degrees had almost been forgotten.
Under
the headline “My Degrees are not Fake” the
Minister has made so many incriminatory confessions, padded with
untenable and almost stupid conflicting claims, that his credibility
would now suffer the damage he may just have escaped through an
embarrassing but understandable silence. He tears his own statements
and claims apart and weaves a web of lies in which he finds himself
entangled at the end.
Dr Aamir (Fake) Hussain was accused of buying his educational
degrees from an Internet College just before elections in 2002
so that he could become eligible under the new Musharraf doctrine
to elect a “Graduate Parliament.” Officials of the
Karachi University were apparently pressurized to authenticate
his Internet degrees and declare them equivalent to those issued
by a Pakistani University on the same day.
The
original story on his degrees was investigated by a Karachi Urdu
Daily “Ummat”. 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 Fake 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, 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
on 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
But
all hell broke for Dr Fake when South Asia Tribune picked
up the Daily Ummat story and published not only copies
of his degrees but also the images of the web site of the Trinity
College.
According
to the latest article in the Sunday Magazine of Daily Dawn
(May 1), more damage was done when the South Asia Tribune,
which Dawn described as an explosive online news ezine,
“also picked up this news item and uploaded some so-called
documentary evidence on its site. None of these stories featured
comments from Aamir, who for the first time has spoken on this
issue to any publication.” Click
to Read Dawn Magazine Article
“These are all just lies. Before I never commented on this
issue because, I believe, it’s in the nature of dogs to
bark, and I don’t want to counter every bark made by a dog.
This has all been done by a few people in some newspapers, and
other people who don’t wish to see me in the religious spectrum
of Pakistan. My PhD degree has nothing to do with my becoming
eligible for elections since my medical degree was sufficient
for that,” he told Dawn.
But then he admitted: “True, I attached my honorary PhD
degrees along with my other medical degree when I filed my nomination
papers, but I ask, what’s wrong in that. Why should a storm
stir up on this issue? Yes, it might be true that the Trinity
College sells degrees or that other people buy degrees from it,
but I wasn’t aware of or concerned with that. The point
is that I got it for free and as an honorary degree.”
This is how Dawn presented his explanation on the PhD
degree that he got from an Internet College: “Aamir Liaquat
owes his ‘Dr’ label to his two poles-apart degrees;
he got an MBBS from Liaquat Medical College Jamshoro in 1995,
and a PhD in Islamic Studies from an online university in 2002.
“Explaining
the events that led him to pursue an online degree in Islamic
Studies after completing his medical education, he says: “Before
the events of 9/11, in 2000 there was a negative propaganda against
Islam. This was the era of the Taliban, who were being labeled
as terrorists by the West and were being portrayed as tormentors
of the fair sex since they disallowed them to work or pursue education.
It was during this time that I started my research work on the
topic ‘Islam and Terrorism’ which is also available
in book form.”
“Available for Rs200, the title of the book showcases a
nuclear missile wrapped in the flags of Israel and India cruising
towards Muslim countries, while the back cover has large-sized
pictures of Osama and Al-Zawahiri splashed across.
“I
worked very hard for over a year on this topic and, in fact, went
on to complete 1,500 pages. After completing my research I decided
to get it published somewhere so that the world would recognize
my effort. For this purpose I contacted all the universities I
could find on the net and sent my thesis to them.
“A
number of them, which include the Ambassador University of Texas,
Trinity College & University (Spain), Lincoln College, Allama
Iqbal Open University (AIOU), appreciated my work. Out of these,
two universities, the Ambassador University of Texas and the Trinity
College & University, offered me honorary degrees on behalf
of their faculty of arts, which I duly accepted.
“Even
though I did work hard for a year on my thesis, I want to make
it clear that I have never said that I have pursued a proper education
program for my PhD degrees, which are just honorary entities awarded
to me in appreciation of my effort,” he concludes.
It
is what he said in these paragraphs that Dr. Fake has been caught
lying through his teeth and making a fool of not only Dawn
and its readers, but is trying to swim out of a pond full of his
own lies and mud.
A
quick recollection of facts will determine the mess he has now
landed himself in.
Fact
No. 1: On August 24, 2002 Dr Aamir presented his
foreign degrees to the Registrar of Karachi and got his provisional
approval on the same day. See Registrar’s
letter The letter talks of “foreign degrees” so
it is clear that Dr Aamir presented more than one foreign degree
to get its equivalence. In fact he presented all the three degrees
he had purchased from Trinity College, that of BA, MA and PhD.
Fact
No 2: Dr Aamir admits in his Dawn interview:
“True, I attached my honorary PhD degrees along with my
other medical degree when I filed my nomination papers, but I
ask, what’s wrong in that.” He had bought only one
PhD degree from Trinity College which was authenticated by the
Karachi University Registrar. The other two degrees he attached
with his nomination papers, of BA and MA, were also authenticated
by the Registrar. See copies BA | MA
| PhD
Fact No. 3: He had no MBBS degree from
Jamshoro University when he filed his nomination papers because
if he had that degree, there was no need to rush to the Registrar
with fake degrees, get a letter of authentication on the same
day and try to break the Law of the land. This explanation is
all an after-thought and it is possible as a Minister he may have
managed to get a MBBS degree attached to his nomination papers
in the Election Commission. In Pakistan everything is possible
in the age of Enlightened Moderation.
Fact No. 4: Dr Aamir claims his PhD
degree had nothing to do with his nomination papers. But why did
he buy and present the BA and MA degrees to the Election Commission
has not been explained by him and that is where he gets caught
lying.
Fact No. 5: He says he got his MBBS
degree in 1995 from Jamshoro College. But the BA Degree he got
from Trinity College is dated 17 March 1995. Is this not a joke?
It is an open fraud. How could Dr Fake do his MBBS from Jamshoro
and his BA in Islamic Studies from Trinity College at the same
time. Click to see BA Degree
Fact No. 6: Trinity College and University’s
web address (URL) was registered under the name of: KSR Consulting,1403-1901
19 ST NE, Calgary, Alberta T2E4Y4, Canada. It was registered through:
GoDaddy.com with these details: Domain Name: TRINITYEDUCATION.COM,
Created on: 05-Jul-00, Expires on: 05-Jul-06, Last Updated on:
18-Feb-05.
Fact
No 7: When the college itself was registered in
2000, and that too in Canada and not in Spain as Dr Aamir claims,
although they do have a Spanish address, how can it issue a degree
to Dr Aamir dated March 17, 1995. It is thus a fake degree and
when Dr Aamir got it authenticated from the Registrar of Karachi
University, he committed a criminal act, an outright fraud.
Fact
No 8: The degrees Dr Aamir admitted he attached
with his nomination papers for the 2002 election do not say anywhere
that these are “Honorary” Degrees. In fact the PhD
Degree states on its face in bold and capital letters: "The
Trinity College has conferred upon Dr Aamir Liaquat the Degree,
Rank and Academic Status, Doctor of Philosophy in Islamic Studies.”
It further adds: “All requirements of the Board of Regents
and Examiners having been completed. All rights and Privileges
thereunto appertaining are hereby awarded.” Is this the
language of an Honorary Degree. See Face of
Degree
Fact
No 9: Trinity College offers an All-in-One Package
to its customers for UK Pounds 500 (US$960) in which all three
degrees, Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate are offered together.
This is what Dr Aamir purchased with the request to the college
to put the 1995 date on his BA degree.
Fact
No 10: Dr Aamir has not explained or clarified why
would a commercial company selling its products to the rest of
the world offer an almost 1000-dollar package free of cost to
him making him an “Honorary” Doctor in a subject in
which the College has no experience. What services did he render
to the Trinity College and who is he trying to fool?
All
these facts and evidence proves Dr Aamir is trying to justify
one mistakes and one lie by committing more mistakes and offering
more lies to the people. If this is his personal standard of morals
and ethics, the irony is that he is the junior Minister for Religious
Affairs and on the TV every day he teaches morals to the rest
of the nation.
And
now he claims that he has also been given the authority to issue
'Fatwas". May God help those who seek Fatwas from him and
act on them as they would be following the words of an established
"liar" and a "fraud" instead of an "Aalim"
(a learned man). The authority given to him also shows how shallow
and materialistic our other religious leaders are. For a few minutes
of appearance on TV, they could make an Aalim out of a swindler.
Instead
of coming clean and admitting that he committed a mistake, he
now says dogs keep on barking and he does not care. After this
overwhelming evidence which conclusively proves that he is a liar,
a fraud and an unethical person, the people of Pakistan have to
decide who is barking on the wrong tree.
South
Asia Tribune stands by its earlier story. For the information
of our readers we have received more than 1,500 Emails on our
earlier story thanking us for exposing the fake Minister.
The
writer of this article is a Karachi-based journalist and should
not be confused with Mr. Muhammad Ali Siddiqi, Assistant Editor,
Daily Dawn, Karachi.
