ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Saturday delisted the hearing of a case concerning an alleged fake academic degree held by Director General National Accountability Bureau (DG NAB) Lahore Major (Retd) Shahzad Saleem.
The registrar’s office of the apex court had earlier fixed the case for hearing on November 12, 2018 by a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar.
The court has also withdrawn its notices issued to the petitioner, journalist Asad Kharal. A new date for hearing of the case is yet to be issued by the registrar’s office.
The Lahore director general of the bureau is facing an internal NAB probe over his alleged fake degree on the orders of the Supreme Court. The apex court had earlier sought a report from the NAB Chairman while hearing Kharal’s petition, which alleged that the degree issued in 2002 is written in Calibri font which was commercially available only in 2007.
NAB Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal had earlier sought a report from his subordinates about the dubious degree on the directions of the Supreme Court but no apparent action was taken on the issue since October 2017.
Assistant Attorney General-V Mansoor Tariq had earlier informed the Peshawar High Court during hearing of a case that Saleem Shahzad’s degree was not recognised by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
Saleem denies the allegations regarding his degree.
The case received fresh attention this week when the issue of the dubious degree was brought up during Saleem’s interview with Geo News anchorperson Shahzaib Khanzada.
On Friday, former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also raised the matter during a press conference, calling on Saleem to present his degree to the press so that can verify its authenticity.
“If he does [hold a fake degree], he should be held accountable,” Abbasi told reporters.
The opposition party has accused the DG NAB Lahore of conducting a ‘media trial’ of PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif.
