Malir assistant commissioner sacked for helping daughter cheat in exams

Karachi
The Karachi commissioner removed the Malir assistant commissioner from his post on Sunday over the allegation that the latter helped his daughter and two other female candidates cheat in the ongoing intermediate board examinations.
He has also been directed report to the commissioner’s office.
Yousuf Abbasi, the sacked assistant commissioner, allegedly provided an opportunity to his daughter and two other girls to solve their paper at a separate place rather than their allocated classroom at the examination centre on Saturday.
The Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) has decided to change the examination centre as the authorities there had failed to perform their duties.
The examination centre’s staff threatened the vigilance team, which had caught the three girls cheating, of dire consequences.
In a BIEK notification, it was stated that the examination centre, the Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Murad Memon Goth, Malir, has been shifted to the Government Boys and Girls HSC, Haji Natho, Malir City.
The board asked the candidates of science (pre-engineering and pre-medical) and science general in the morning shift and the candidates of the second shift who had to appear in the humanities (regular and private) to appear at the new examination centre for their remaining papers from Monday (today).
BIEK controller of examinations Muhammad Imran Khan Chishti told The News that the board would not compromise over the matter.
“We will write a letter to each and every relevant person and office so that strict action can be taken against the accused,” he added.
“The BIEK has a zero-tolerance policy over use of unfair means, impersonation and threatening examiners, vigilance teams and other officials.”
Speaking about the incident, he said a four-member vigilance team led by Dr Muhammad Wakeel Ahmed had found that although the attendance of all candidates had been marked, three of them were missing in the classroom.
“The question paper and answer booklets were also missing. The whole class was solving their botany paper, but, Mussarat Shaheen, Paras Altaf Hussain Shah and Amna Ghazala were not in the classroom allocated to them. Their absence couldn’t have been possible without inside help.” He added.
Professor Maqbool Fatima Shaikh, who was acting as the centre superintendent at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Murad Memon Goth, Malir, tried to mislead the vigilance team, but was unable to respond when the answer copies of the three female candidates, which were filled somewhere else, appeared at a table in her room.
Instead of confessing, the staff at the examination centre held the vigilance team hostage, took their pictures and called the assistant commissioner, the father of Mussarat Shaheen.
The assistant commissioner tried to intimidate the team into withdrawing the case. However, the team called the controller of examinations, who rushed to the scene.
Before he reached there, the assistant commissioner’s guards also fired gunshots in the air to scare the team.
By the time the controller reached the examination centre with other officials, the assistant commissioner and his guards had escaped.
“The BIEK will hold a meeting with the three female candidates after the papers to decide what to do next. They might be banned from appearing in any exams for three years or at least their current exams could be cancelled,” the BIEK controller of examinations said.