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A court in capital Islamabad on Thursday sentenced the notorious owner of a fake degree mill to jail for a minimum of seven years on four counts, according to the court record and local media reports.
A district court found Shoaib Shaikh, who is listed as the owner of Bol media group and the IT company, Axact, along with 22 of his employees guilty in the fake degree international scam and handed them down seven years in jail each on two counts and three years each on another two counts, local broadcaster Geo News reported.
The convicts were, however, exonerated of money laundering and electronic crimes charges.
Although technically the number of years the convicts were sentenced to totals 20 years, they were likely to remain behind bars just for seven years since all the sentences would be carried out simultaneously.
Nearly 200 undocumented migrants were held across Turkey, security sources said on Thursday.Sixty-three of the migrants were rounded up in Ezine district of northwestern Canakkale province, as they attempted to illegally cross into the Greek island of Lesbos, said security sources, who asked not to be named due to media restrictions.Another 30 migrants including 13 children on an inflatable boat were stopped by coastguard teams off Kusadasi district of western Aydin province.The migrants -- the majority of them are Syrian nationals -- were planning to leave Turkey for another country, security sources said.Separately, 105 undocumented migrants -- including Afghan, Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals – were rounded up in Caldiran district of eastern Van province after illegally entering Turkey, according to a statement by provincial gendarmerie command.All the migrants were referred to provincial migration authorities.Turkey has been the main route for refugees trying to cross into Europe, especially since the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011.Among the migrants held last year in Turkey, the majority came from Pakistan -- around 15,000 -- followed by Afghans at around 12,000. Syrians totaled 10,000.
Pakistanis among nearly 200 undocumented migrants held across Turkey
The Pakistani opposition party led by former cricket star Imran Khan appears to be gaining ground ahead of a July 25 general election, with one new poll showing it pulling ahead of the outgoing ruling party and another showing it only slightly behind.A survey by Pulse Consultant showed Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, or Pakistan Justice Movement) ahead with 30 percent of the respondents nationwide, compared to 27 percent for its main rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was at 17 percent.A separate nationwide poll by Gallup Pakistan had PML-N on top with 26 percent, PTI with 25 percent and the PPP at 16 percent.Both polls were commissioned by Pakistan's Jang Media Group and were published on Wednesday in its affiliated newspaper, The News. They each surveyed about 3,000 people, with a margin of error of 1.6 percent for the Pulse survey and 2-3 percent for Gallup.The new polls indicate a swing towards Khan's party compared to similar nationwide polls in 2017, which put the PML-N 8-9 percentage points ahead of PTI.The Gallup poll showed most of the PML-N's losses were to voters who responded "undecided" in the most recent poll, conducted between May 1 and June 6, while the Pulse poll indicated that most of PML-N's losses went directly to PTI. Khan's political fortunes have improved since PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif was removed as prime minister by the Supreme Court last year over undeclared assets.Sharif, who was disqualified from politics for life, now faces a verdict in an anti-corruption court on Friday along with his daughter Maryam, who is running for parliament. The case, which involves the purchase of luxury apartments in London, could see Sharif jailed and Maryam disqualified.Sharif's has accused the military and courts conspiring to oust him and using legal cases and intimidation to help Khan's PTI party, accusations denied by Khan, the army and the judiciary.Khan, a former cricket captain of Pakistan, has portrayed the legal cases as a long-overdue corruption crackdown on the PML-N, which he has labeled a graft-ridden "mafia".
Imran Khan's party gains ground in Pakistan election race
It is only the second time that an archbishop from Pakistan has joined the top hierarchy of the Catholic Church and become a cardinal, an event equally celebrated by the country’s tiny Christian community and the Muslim majority.Archbishop Joseph Coutts of the Catholic Church of Karachi is among the 14 archbishops, who were elevated to the rank of cardinal by Pope Francis at the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday.He is the second Pakistani granted this status after Cardinal Joseph Cordeiro, who was appointed in 1973.Coutts, a doctor of philosophy who can speak several foreign languages, has actively been involved in inter-faith dialogue with Muslim scholars in the country.“This is truly a historic and blessed moment for the Catholics of Pakistan,” Pamela Romail, an English teacher at Karachi’s reputed Saint Paul’s School, told Anadolu Agency.His appointment, she said, would not only help the local Christian community in many ways but would also send a positive message about Pakistan to the world.“Pakistan is often painted as a country with no religious freedom in terms of minorities. But the elevation of Father Coutts, who is a very down-to-earth person and actively involved in inter-faith dialogue, will suggest otherwise to the world,” Pamela opined.She said Coutts’s appointment would help proritize the religious and community matters of Pakistani Catholics.“Several matters pertaining to Pakistani Catholics are sent to the Vatican but there has always been an issue of priority due to overload of correspondence from across the world. But now, it’s like a family member is sitting over there to work to resolve the issues on priority basis,” she maintained.Faheem Fredrick, a local journalist, said: “Usually, cardinals are appointed from Europe or other Christian-majority countries in the world. But this time, a cardinal has been appointed from a Christian-minority country, which has propelled the entire community to celebrate”.“It will indeed tell the world how active and independent Pakistani Christian community is,” he maintained.In the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, cardinals come immediately after the pope. One of the primary responsibilities of the cardinals is to elect a new pope when the position becomes vacant.Christians are Pakistan’s largest minority, making up to 3 percent of the country’s total population of 210 million. A majority resides in Punjab, the country’s largest and richest province.- Religious partiesThe mainstream religious parties in the country have also welcomed the Coutts’s appointment.“The entire country welcomes the appointment of a cardinal from Pakistan. It is tantamount to recognizing the Catholic Christians who have served to this country,” Asadullah Bhutto, the deputy chief of Jamat-e-Islami, told Anadolu Agency.“Coutts has long been involved in inter-faith dialogue, and his elevation will further boost the efforts for promotion of religious harmony in the country,” Bhutto, a former parliamentarian and head of his party’s religious minorities wing, added.Qari Usman, a central leader of another religious party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), congratulated the Catholic community on the appointment of Coutts as cardinal, terming it an “honor for Pakistan”.“The Christian community has long been contributing to the country’s development. I and my party fully recognize their services, and will always stand alongside them in need of hour,” Usman told Anadolu Agency.Religious Affairs Minister Muhammad Yusuf Shaikh, who led the Pakistani delegation to the ceremony in the Vatican, also welcomed the elevation of Archbishop Coutts.“The appointment of Archbishop Joseph Coutts is an honor for the entire nation,” a statement issued by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry quoted Shaikh as saying.“Pakistan is committed to cordial relations with the Holy See,” he added.
Pakistani archbishop elevated to cardinal hailed
None of the convicts were present in the court when the judgment was announced. Police, according to the Geo TV, were conducting raids to arrest them.
The convicts also have a chance to appeal the verdict in the high court within seven days.
Meanwhile, the district court acquitted Ayesha Shaikh, the wife of Shoaib Shaikh, and two others for lack of evidence.
Shoaib Shaikh and several other directors had been arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency in May 2015 after the discovery of "hundreds of thousands" of fake degree certificates at the company's headquarters in southern Karachi city.
They were later released on bail, and subsequently acquitted by an Islamabad district court in October 2016 of all charges. But, the Islamabad High Court in April this year not only set aside the acquittal but the district court judge was also sacked after being found guilty of taking a bribe in exchange for giving a favorable verdict to Shaikh and others.
The Foreign Ministry on Thursday said Pakistan is now officially in the gray list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international terrorism financing watchdog, following its failure to curb terror financing on its soil.“In February 2018, during the FATF plenary session in Paris, it was agreed that Pakistan will be included in the ‘gray list’ in June 2018,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Dr. Muhammad Faisal told a weekly press briefing in capital Islamabad.It was also agreed, he added, that an action plan would be negotiated between Pakistan and the FATF members by June, which has now been done.“Pakistan will work towards effective implementation of the action plan, while staying in the gray list,” he said.Pakistan's top court, election panel deal fresh blows to Sharif's partyPakistan removes sectarian group leader from terrorist watchlist ahead of electionThe spokesman said Pakistan was in a similar situation in 2011 when it was included in the gray list and was taken out only in 2015 after it successfully implemented an action plan. Despite Pakistan’s best diplomatic campaign, the FATF took the decision to place Islamabad on its “gray list” in its plenary meeting on Wednesday in Paris. The move means the country will remain under direct FATF scrutiny until it gets satisfied by the measures taken to weed out terror financing and money laundering.The 37-nation watchdog had placed Pakistan on a watch-list after Turkey, China, and Saudi Arabia opposed the U.S.-led resolution against Islamabad in February this year.Islamabad, in recent months, did take some steps to avoid the designation, which includes, no foreign currency transactions without national tax number, and ban on currency change of up to $500 in the open currency market without submission of a national identity card copy.In addition to that, Islamabad has also proscribed several militant groups and seized their assets, including Jamat-ud-Dawa’h -- a group blamed for 2009 deadly Mumbai attacks, which killed over 150 people.The steps, however, could not persuade member states, especially the United States, which had not only pushed for an unprecedented second discussion on Feb. 22 but also persuaded Riyadh to withdraw its support. Riyadh’s withdrawal had left only Ankara and Beijing alongside Pakistan -- one less than the required number of three members to halt the move.
Pakistan vows to implement plan to end terror financing
Axact, which claims to be one the world's largest IT companies and is the parent company of one of Pakistan’s biggest media groups, was identified in a New York Times report in 2015 as the culprit behind the selling of fake degrees from 300 bogus universities to people all over the world.
The report alleged that Axact would sell online degrees for $350 to $4,000 for a range of subjects.
Axact is the parent company of the BOL media group, which owns several TV channels in Pakistan.