Marks rigged: scandal hits over 2,500 candidates

As controversy about alleged corruption and forgery in examination results girdles Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Mirpurkhas, the board has released a list of 2,539 candidates who secured undue favour in the results between 2021 to 2025. The board's chairman Col (R) Dr Muhammad Alamdar on Saturday informed through a press release that keeping in view the disclosures about widespread tampering in the examination results, they are issuing a list of candidates who secured marks and certificates by means of undue favour. The eight-page press release contains year-wise seat numbers of the students of higher secondary certificate and secondary school certificate who passed exams and received academic certificates from the board from 2021 to 2025. According to him, fake enrollment, registration and providing other documents to take candidates was also taking place. He apprised that the board has cancelled the academic certificates which were issued to those candidates whose seat numbers are contained in the list. He requested these students to disclose names of the officials of BISE Mirpurkhas and the schools and colleges who played with their future by helping them secure marks and certificates unlawfully. The affected students have been given 30 days to submit their objections with the controller examinations. Although, the Mirpurkhas board has been facing corruption and favouritism allegations for many years, the recent arrest of a secret branch's staff Azam Khan and the linked suspension of over half a dozen officials including former controller Anwar Aleem Khanzada has laid bare the state of affairs. Khanzada, son of MQM-P's MNA Abdul Aleem Khanzada who himself served as chairman of BISE Mirpurkhas, is at the centre of the controversy. He was suspended from his position of controller exams on March 9.