In a stunning ruling that has sent shockwaves through Pakistan’s legal community, the Islamabad High Court has removed one of its own judges after finding that he held a fraudulent law degree—declaring his appointment “void ab initio,” or legally invalid from the start.
In a detailed 116-page judgment issued on February 23, the court ousted Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri, who had been serving on the bench since December 2020. He had already been barred from performing judicial functions in September last year amid growing questions about his credentials.
The court’s findings were blunt: Jahangiri’s educational records were fraudulent, tainted by impersonation, exam malpractice and attempts to evade disciplinary sanctions.
The Fraud Allegations
According to reporting by Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn, the High Court relied on original records provided by the Registrar of the University of Karachi.
The judgment states that Jahangiri first sat for his law examinations in 1988 using a fake enrolment number. He was allegedly caught cheating and subsequently banned by the university in 1989 for three years.
Rather than serving the ban, the court found that he returned the following year under a modified name— “Tariq Jahangiri”—and used an enrolment number assigned to another student, Imtiaz Ahmed.
In a further blow to his defence, the principal of Government Islamia Law College reportedly told the court that Jahangiri “was never admitted” to the institution at all.
“Dilatory Tactics”
The bench noted that, despite multiple opportunities to produce original academic documents and submit a written response, Jahangiri failed to do so.
Instead, he filed applications seeking the formation of a full bench, the recusal of the chief justice and an indefinite adjournment, citing related proceedings before the Sindh High Court.
The Islamabad High Court dismissed these moves as “dilatory tactics,” holding that once the petitioner produced documentary evidence, the burden shifted to Jahangiri to prove the authenticity of his law qualifications.
His failure to provide credible evidence, the court said, warranted an adverse inference.
Legal Fallout
By declaring his law degree void from the beginning, the court effectively ruled that his eligibility to practice law, and by extension his appointment as a High Court judge, was legally non-existent.
The decision raises urgent questions about judicial vetting processes and the integrity of appointments to Pakistan’s higher judiciary.
Legal analysts say the ruling could have ripple effects, particularly if litigants challenge past decisions in cases where Jahangiri presided.
For now, the message from the Islamabad High Court is unequivocal: the authority to interpret the law cannot rest on fraudulent credentials.
And in one of the most dramatic judicial reckonings in recent memory, the bench has drawn a hard line between judicial power and academic deceit.
