ISLAMABAD: Weeks ahead of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) elections, spouse of the Punjab chief minister retired Captain Mohammad Safdar has sparked a fresh debate over the authenticity of lawyers’ degrees, particularly those of candidates contesting the association’s top office. The SCBA elections are scheduled for Oct 29, with the Independent Group, also known as the Asma Jahangir Group, fielding Syed Amjad Ali Shah as its presidential candidate, while the Professional Group, led by Hamid Khan, has nominated Sardar Aman Khan for the slot. Meanwhile, Mr Safdar has announced the formation of his own group, the Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah Group, and invited lawyers to join it. He said his group also intended to contest the SCBA elections. Talking to media persons, Mr Safdar alleged that the law degree of one of the candidates for the SCBA presidency was fake and demanded its verification. He also called for verification of the degrees of prominent lawyers, including Ahsan Bhoon, a close associate of Federal Law and Justice Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar. Mr Bhoon, a former SCBA president, is currently a member of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan and heads the Independent Group. Mr Safdar further alleged that some prominent lawyers charged their clients on a “done basis”, a term used for arrangements in which lawyers allegedly demand hefty fees while assuring clients of a 100pc favourable court decision. He said such practices needed to be stopped and lawyers with dubious credentials should be removed from the legal profession. Pakistan Bar Council member Shafqat Chohan, who belongs to the Professional Group, endorsed Mr Safdar’s demand, saying those seeking to hold office in the SCBA should possess valid law degrees. Senior lawyer Muhammad Siddique Awan, a prominent member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Lawyers Forum, also called for verification of the degrees of candidates contesting the SCBA elections from both groups. He said the SCBA had around 5,000 members and suggested that the degrees of all its members should eventually be verified. Mr Awan pointed out that several lawyers had previously been found to possess invalid or fake degrees. He also referred to the recent removal of Islamabad High Court judge Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri over an issue concerning the validity of his law degree. However, Independent Group presidential candidate Syed Amjad Ali Shah described Mr Safdar’s allegations as stemming from a personal grudge. Mr Shah alleged that Mr Safdar had wanted him to represent a party in a property dispute in Mansehra involving the brother of a former Supreme Court judge. He said he declined to become counsel in the matter because he lived in the same area as Mr Safdar and the judge’s brother and did not want to become involved in a dispute between local parties. According to Mr Shah, Mr Safdar interpreted his refusal as an act of disobedience and subsequently targeted him. He said that if Mr Safdar genuinely wanted his law degree verified, he should have adopted the proper legal and institutional procedure instead of making allegations through the media. Mr Shah also claimed that Mr Safdar’s alleged indifferent behaviour had caused resentment among local notables in Mansehra, adding that, in his view, this was among the factors that contributed to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s failure to win a National Assembly seat from the district. _Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2026_

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