Ernest Dempsey - Plagiarism is an issue in education, journalism and other areas of life and can impact the power and prestige of the highest officials, as is demonstrated now in a case in Pakistan.
Peshawar is a flagship university in Pakistan. The Vice President of the University, Dr. Azmat Hayat Khan, has been accused of plagiarism. Now the President of Pakistan has been drawn into the scandal, as a comment on the risks of plagiarism, not just in the Western countries but in the developing countries as well, as people seek fairness and honesty in education and government.
Following the string of anti-plagiarism appeals, Muhammad Zubair, Assistant Professor at Peshawar University’s Law College, has written to the President of Pakistan with the request to withdraw government-awarded honor from the university’s Vice Chancellor (VC) Dr. Azmat Hayat Khan who’s been accused of plagiarism.
In a letter to the President of Pakistan, dated June 20, 2011, Mr. Zubair wrote that Dr. Azmat Hayat Khan committed the ‘worst kind of plagiarism’ by copying verbatim a substantial part of his PhD thesis, published as a book titled The Durand Line – Its Geo-Strategic Importance, from the book Pak-Afghanistan Relations that is the work of an Indian professor Kulwant Kaur. According to Zubair, 88 pages of Dr. Khan’s book have been plagiarized from Dr. Kaur’s book. Copies of both books were also sent along the letter in which Zubair has asked the president to withdraw the government honor Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (literally, the Medal of Distinction) held by the VC as well as cancel his and membership of the Foreign Policy Advisory Board of Pakistan.
Zubair’s letter to the president reads, “I am astonished, as a citizen of Pakistan, as how a thief, cheater, robber, plagiarist, and anti-democracy person like Prof. Dr. Azmat Hayat Khan could be bestowed with honors like Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, membership of Foreign Policy Advisory Board of Pakistan, and the Vice Chancellorship of the University of Peshawar.”
Criticizing Dr. Khan’s anti-democratic stance, Zubair refers to a TV talk show Aaj Kamran Khan Ke Sath (aired July 02, 2010) in which Dr. Khan rejected democracy as a viable political system for Pakistan and instead proposed a shura (council) of the honest and pious people to govern the country. Criticizing the VC’s character, Zubair further wrote, “In such a situation, how one can have respect for Tamgha-e-Imtiaz; how can a successful foreign policy for Pakistan be formulated; and how can the higher education in Pakistan get promoted?” On these grounds, Zubair requested the President to the position of the Vice Chancellorship also. The letter has been copied to a number of high officials, including the country’s Prime Minister, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, and the Interior Minister.
The story of Zubair’s conflict with the VC office first appeared in media in March 2011 when Zubair reported the alleged plagiarism of the VC to the authorities. Later, he moved the court of law to decide on the case. However, the court referred the case to the university’s syndicate, after which Zubair filed a petition at the Supreme Court of Pakistan where the case is still running/pending. The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, meanwhile, has excused itself from taking any action against the VC, saying that their plagiarism policy assumes that a VC cannot commit plagiarism.