Malik Waheed Anjum, a former president of the Rawalpindi Bar Association, filed the application in the court of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. The court admitted his plea and asked different universities and institutions to provide the records of the 57 lawyers by August 31.
The list of lawyers given by Anjum in his application includes Shabaz Rajput, the counsel of Lakhvi and other accused in the 2008 Mumbai attacks case. Talking to media outside the apex court, Anjum claimed many lawyers with fake documents had left the profession after tendering apology to the bar association.
He alleged that Rajput was "over-confident and organising a group to counter the move against fake degree holders." "Former Rawalpindi Bar Association office-bearer Shabaz Rajput is so confident because his mother was a brigadier in the army medical corps," Anjum claimed.
He said authorities should carry out a thorough probe to trace the ring in Punjab University that allegedly attests fake documents with genuine stamps. Rajput had earlier dismissed allegations that he possessed a fake degree and said that he had submitted documents and testimonials on the authenticity of his degree to the court conducting the trial of the seven Pakistani suspects charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks.
He had also described the move as a bid to "pressurise" him to stop acting as counsel for the suspects.