Fraud Wins Again!

Some days ago a young girl was kidnapped in Karachi, she was purportedly the step-daughter of someone with high influence in the Sindh Cabinet. Fortunately, the girl was soon recovered from Larkana, where it appears she had been held captive in a house of a supposed high ranking government officer.

Soon the law enforcement authorities discovered that this crime (as well as several other recent cases of kidnapping) had all involved movement in vehicles with dark tinted windows and official sounding sirens. This then led to an active police campaign to vigorously implement the law against vehicles with black-tinted windows, blue flashing lights and fancy number plates.

Karachi police officers rather bravely announced that “The drive is being carried out without any discrimination and no one violating the rules would not be spared.”

And so, as yesterday’s Dawn reported:

Sons and relatives of many influential people spent Saturday night in the lockups of various police stations in Clifton Town and got bail on Sunday morning. They were held for having tinted glasses, flashing or blue headlights, or fancy number plates in their respective vehicles.

The drive is being carried out across the city and motorists were held in various localities for violating the traffic rules. However, most of the motorists, who happened to be siblings of some influential people, were held in Clifton town.The Clifton town police registered a total number of 186 FIRs overnight and put behind bars the siblings of influential people along with their vehicles including son of an adviser to the prime minister, son of an EDO Hub, nephew of the Inspector-General of Police, and relatives of provincial and federal ministers besides the siblings of officers in health and other departments.

Was this a sign of a brave new world?

Sadly no. The campaign came to a crashing halt when the police stopped one Aamir Liaquat, Minister of State for Religious Affairs, TV’s ‘Aalim on Line’ and bogus BA, MA and PhD degree holder. According to today’s Dawn:

Police said that Dr Amir Liaquat’s car was intercepted on Khayaban-i-Shamsheer in Defence Housing Authority near Defence Stadium. Witnesses said that the police had stopped the car as it had tinted glasses and a number plate other than the one issued by the government. Dr Liaquat objected to police behaviour and made a call to Sindh home minister, who rushed to the spot. The police officials were admonished for intercepting the state minister’s car. After the home minister’s intervention, Dr Liaquat was let off. The police did not register any case against him.

Subsequently a senior police officer stutteringly tried to exonerate Aamir Liaquat by insisting that his had car ‘zero- level’ tinted windows which were permissible under the law. There is tinted glass and plain glass, pray tell us what sort of animal is ‘zero-level tint’?

Anyhow it goes to show that the Aalim Online has more influence than the ordinary humdrum ministers or former prime ministers (Zafarullah Jamali’s son had reportedly been nabbed in Karachi for the same offence a few days earlier).

It would make for great sense if the great Aalim went on to explain to his fans, on his next show, how under Islam the law cannot be equally applied to all; specials exemptions will always exist for gifted Aalims such as himself.

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Seeing as we are already on the issue of Aamir Liaquat, your Blogger recently received staunch criticism from some readers for purportedly denigrating the great man by referring to him as Jahil Online. From now on, as I intend to follow facts strictly to the line, I do apologize for having used incorrect terminology - from henceforth I shall refer to this person only as Fraud Online.

Here is what the South Asia Tribune had to say about Fraud Online's so-called 'university' degrees.

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 March15, 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.

The UK Observer newspaper has something to say about this so-called university as well:

When it arrives, the literature for the self-styled Trinity College and University, based at Fuengirola in Spain, gets quickly to the point. 'We provide a unique service by helping people who have not had the advantage of a college education by converting all your prior learning, academic and qualified experience into a "non-traditional" degree,' it says.

A degree will help you get ahead in the job market, it continues, adding: 'We do not ask you to take time off to study further or sit exams, nor do we have any residency requirements.'

All you have to do is to fill in a form specifying what class of degree you would like and in which subject, then send it off with a cheque for the appropriate fee: £125 for a Bachelor, £150 with honours chucked in; £195 for a Masters; and £295 for a Doctorate. Along with your certificate, you receive 'any study material you may have ordered' it adds, almost as an afterthought.

And, it was reported in UK’s Mail on Sunday newspaper that the so-called Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College and University is one 'Dr' Anthony Peel-Bayley, a convicted conman who has been selling fake degrees for years.

I wonder what Fraud Online would have to say about this?

aamir liaquat
Pakistan