No Country have expressed concern over Axact & ‘No Pakistan-Saudi nuclear deal’: FO

[Devil Soul]

US has raised no concern over Axact issue: FO
MATEEN HAIDER | IRFAN HAIDER — UPDATED 37 minutes ago

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office Spokesperson Qazi M. Khalilullah on Thursday said that the United States has conveyed no concern to Pakistan over local IT company Axact's alleged fake degrees scam.

Answering questions in a news briefing about allegations levelled by a New York Times report against Axact, Khalilullah maintained that no foreign country, including the US, has raised any concern over the issue.

He said Pakistani agencies were investigating the accusations against Axact upon directions of the Interior Ministry.

"Investigations are underway and we have to wait for their completion," the spokesman said.


Other matters
Khalilullah confirmed the agreement between Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Afghan intelligence outfit National Directorate of Security (NDS) aimed at bolstering fight against terrorism.

He said that the accord between the two agencies was part of a bilateral agreement in the field of security and counter-terrorism.

The spokesman rejected a Sunday Times report about nuclear deal between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and said that there was no truth to such reports.

"Pakistan is aware of its responsibilities as a nuclear state," he said.

"Pakistan's nuclear programme is meant for its security and there is a strong command and control system over it," Khalilullah said.

Responding to a question, Khalilullah said that the dialogue process with India had not resumed as yet but efforts were underway to resuming talks with as "good ties with neighbours are a cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy".

Khalilullah said there was no hint regarding the visit of the Russian President Vladimir Putin to Pakistan.


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No country has expressed concern over Axact scandal: FO
By Web Desk
Published: May 21, 2015

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan claimed on Thursday that no country has expressed concern over the fake degrees scam of software company Axact.

“No country has expressed concern over the scandal,” Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said.

“The matter is being investigated by the interior ministry,” the spokesperson added.



A New York Times report revealed Axact’s multimillion-dollar fraud unveiling the company ran a fake education empire that involved paid actors promoting fictitious universities and even fake State Department authentication certifications bearing the signature of John Kerry.

Following the report Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to take up the case.


On Tuesday, the FIA raided Axact headquarters in Karachi and the regional offices in the twin-cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Thirty-five employees were detained and several computers and phones confiscated. However, Interior Minister Nisar said no one was detained.

Further, the government directed the Federal Board of Revenue and the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to provide all relevant information on the company to FIA investigators, Nisar told the media on Wednesday. “I ordered the inquiry into the Axact scandal because the credibility of state institutions is being undermined by such reports.”

A seven-member FIA team has been constituted to probe all corporate matters related to Axact, he said. “The FIA team will ensure transparency in the investigation, which will be concluded as soon as possible.”

‘No Pakistan-Saudi nuclear deal’

Rejecting media reports that Saudi Arabia wants to acquire nuclear weapons from Pakistan, Khalilullah said, “There is no Pakistan-Saudi nuclear deal.”

“Pakistan’s nuclear programme is purely for its own legitimate self defense and maintenance of credible minimum deterrence.”

 

[niaz]

Whether any country has raised concern or not is not the issue. Issue here is ethical & moral.

Article published in the NY Times has caused great harm to the reputation of qualifications from Pakistan as well as from the United States. Subsequent editorial implied that such a scam was not possible without people in power knowing about it.

There is no smoke without the fire; I have no doubt that at least part of the article is based on facts. No matter how biased, NY Times would not publish complete fabrication. People may remember that UK cricket scandal against Pak cricketers, despite complete denial by Salman Butt, turned out to be largely true.

I had never heard of the fake degrees in Pakistan until ZAB time, when occasional cases of people usimg certified photocopies of other person’s certificates but with the changed name came to light; this was primarily to overcome lack of qualifications of PPP supporters. Fake degrees from Pakistan became prevalent during the 2nd PPP regime. Thanks to the ingenuity of my countrymen; even though my London University M.Sc. is dated 1966, I had to get it authenticated by the UAE UK embassy before I could get a job.

I also heard the unrepentant owner of Axact on the ARY TV. Mr Sheihk insisted that he had nothing wrong, citing the example that if bat maker sells the bat to someone and the buyer uses the bat to hit someone else, it was not the fault of bat maker. Conveniently ignoring that when you sell the bat you assume it would be used to play cricket; but when you sell fake degree or diploma to someone, you should know that it would be used to obtain promotion, a job or some other nefarious purpose. In my opinion, issuing fake nursing or medical qualification to someone implies that you could be the indirect cause of death.

Underlying problem is the mind-set that does not consider ‘Fraud’ anything bad. Because in Pakistan, with money you can literally get away with murder; as evident in the case of spoilt rich murderous kids getting off after paying blood money. Regret to say thinking that as long as you get rich, means don’t matter is the prevalent thinking in Pakistan of today.

 

[wiseone2]

Whether any country has raised concern or not is not the issue. Issue here is ethical & moral.

Article published in the NY Times has caused great harm to the reputation of qualifications from Pakistan as well as from the United States. Subsequent editorial implied that such a scam was not possible without people in power knowing about it.

There is no smoke without the fire; I have no doubt that at least part of the article is based on facts. No matter how biased, NY Times would not publish complete fabrication. People may remember that UK cricket scandal against Pak cricketers, despite complete denial by Salman Butt, turned out to be largely true.

I had never heard of the fake degrees in Pakistan until ZAB time, when occasional cases of people usimg certified photocopies of other person’s certificates but with the changed name came to light; this was primarily to overcome lack of qualifications of PPP supporters. Fake degrees from Pakistan became prevalent during the 2nd PPP regime. Thanks to the ingenuity of my countrymen; even though my London University M.Sc. is dated 1966, I had to get it authenticated by the UAE UK embassy before I could get a job.

I also heard the unrepentant owner of Axact on the ARY TV. Mr Sheihk insisted that he had nothing wrong, citing the example that if bat maker sells the bat to someone and the buyer uses the bat to hit someone else, it was not the fault of bat maker. Conveniently ignoring that when you sell the bat you assume it would be used to play cricket; but when you sell fake degree or diploma to someone, you should know that it would be used to obtain promotion, a job or some other nefarious purpose. In my opinion, issuing fake nursing or medical qualification to someone implies that you could be the indirect cause of death.

Underlying problem is the mind-set that does not consider ‘Fraud’ anything bad. Because in Pakistan, with money you can literally get away with murder; as evident in the case of spoilt rich murderous kids getting off after paying blood money. Regret to say thinking that as long as you get rich, means don’t matter is the prevalent thinking in Pakistan of today.

fake degrees are a symptom of the underlying moral decay in society
there are not unique to Pakistan even thought Axact might have taken it to a new level