Message from Dr. Atta ur Rahman

Dear Colleagues
In a shocking move, the present government approved the shredding of the Higher Education Commission into pieces and handing the functions to the provinces. The Cabinet formally approved this last week.
This was illegal as HEC was a Federal Regulatory Authority and protected under the 18th amendment of the Constitution like other Federal Regulatory Authorities . It was also completely autonomous, and reported directly to the Prime Minister. However it was treated as if it was a part of the Ministry of Education, and since the Ministry of Education was being devolved, so this was too. HEC had developed many enemies when I was its Chairman as I was determined to strictly follow merit and not compromise on principles. Dr. Sohail Naqvi, Executive Director, continued these policies, after I resigned,  as did the new Chairman Dr. Javaid Laghari. This annoyed many Parliamentarians, specially on the matter of forged degrees as HEC refused to testify them as genuine.

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