Exam fraud could unseat Pakistani parliamentarian

Islamabad, May 2 (IANS) A Pakistani parliamentarian deputed his nephew to appear on his behalf in an examination but the deception was uncovered and he might now lose his seat.

The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had set up a probe committee after Haji Parvaiz Khan's nephew was caught red-handed while writing the intermediate examinations in his uncle's place.

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The committee is likely to recommend to PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif that Khan be stripped of his seat in the National Assembly, the lower house of Pakistan's parliament, Dawn reported Saturday.

Khan has said he would resign if found guilty of any irregularity.

The probe committee was to hold public proceedings Friday, but media personnel were barred after it decided to hold an in-camera enquiry, Dawn said.

Naeem Bajwa, the superintendent of the examination centre who caught Khan's nephew Bilal Javed appearing in place of the parliamentarian, said he had received several threats to his life since the incident. '

'I have not met my family members for the past three days. I am staying with a friend under police protect'on,' he said.

Bajwa, who was brought under police protection to appear before the committee, said he had taken away'Javed's mobile phone on which he was talking.

Dawn quoted sources as saying Bajwa's statement and the records furnished by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education would play a decisive role in the c'mmittee's recommendations. The handwriting on the examination papers would prove that the nephew had appeared on Khan's behalf, the sources added.

This apart, the committee would also take to task those who had prompted the board chairman to be shifted after the fraud was detected.

At a separate meeting with board officials, the committee was told that Khan had twice failed to clear the intermediate exams. He had enrolled for the third time in 2009 to clear Pakistan Studies and Civics-II paper.