Even after the passage of two years, Higher Education Commission (HEC) has not yet taken any action against Shaheen Khan, Chairperson of Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE), despite the fact that her thesis for PhD degree was found to be plagiarized by a committee of Karachi University. Informed sources told this scribe here on Friday that Shaheen Khan got extension in her tenure by HEC despite being involved in plagiarism.
"Shaheen Khan had to retire from her present job in August 2012 but she got extension in her job for one year being an employee of HEC and the Commission has not taken any action against her so far," sources added. Sources said, "Validation of a degree issued by any of the HEC recognised universities is the HEC's main function. Two years ago, on the directive of HEC, a committee comprising HEC representatives and foreign evaluators constituted by the University of Karachi pointed out that Shaheen Khan's PhD research thesis was plagiarized," they added.
The PhD thesis of Shaheen Khan was evaluated at PhD Scholar Department of Political Science, University of Karachi and it was found that in her PhD thesis, "Chapter 3 (Pages 97-177) and the Chapter 4 (Pages 178-201) are verbatim translation of material from "ECO Guide Book" published by ECO Secretariat, Tehran in 1999. It has also been observed that the PhD candidate (Shaheen Khan) was a student of Political Science, whereas, her thesis was evaluated by the Experts of Business School & Liberal Art & Sciences. In addition, the detail regarding publication of research paper in HEC recognized journal, GRE/GAT test score, information regarding additional course of 18 credit hours followed by a comprehensive exam & the condition of 3.00/4.00 in M.Phil were not provided despite being pre-requisite.
As per HEC plagiarism policy clause number 11-b(vii) "the degree of any student may be withdrawn, if the thesis is found to be plagiarized at any stage". There is no provision to rewrite a PhD thesis once the degree is awarded. Sources said that to conclude the case of plagiarism against Shaheen Khan, an experts committee was constituted. The meeting of the experts committee was held in October 2011. Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmed Khan, Vice Chancellor, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad chaired the meeting while Professor Dr Sharif ul Mujahid and Professor Dr Tahir Amin participated in it. The committee decided:
"The committee unanimously resolves that the thesis contains substantial portion that are translation of the ECO Guide Book. The revision of a thesis through incorporation of quotations marks is, in fact, a tacit acknowledgement of plagiarism in the original thesis. The PhD dissertation of. Shaheen Khan, therefore, falls under the category of "Severe Plagiarism" as per HEC Plagiarism Policy. The Committee further noted that the PhD dissertation does not fulfil the basic structural requirements of a dissertation that normally includes review of literature, a statement of hypothesis and corresponding methodology. Therefore, the quality of thesis is questionable and a stigma for Higher Education.
In view of the above, the degree awarded to the candidate should be de-recognised forthwith and publicised accordingly. The members strongly felt that this act of Shaheen Khan amounts to misconduct and she may be proceeded against." Sources said that Shaheen Khan had filed an application in the Court of Session and District Judge Islamabad challenging the investigations conducted by the committee.
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