Fact-check: Retired army officer not appointed HEC chairperson; heads National Technology Council instead

Dr Mukhtar Ahmed was recently re-notified to continue as the head of the HEC

Updated Thursday Aug 08 2024

Graphics being shared online claim that the federal government has appointed a retired army officer as chairperson of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the government-run body that regulates higher education in the country.

The claim is misleading. The retired army officer will be heading a body under the HEC, not the HEC itself.

Claim

On August 6, a user on X, formerly known as Twitter, posted a graphic that read: “The government has appointed Lt Gen (R) Moazzam Ejaz as the new chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), effective from July 29, 2024.”

The user further wrote that from today onwards, the retired general will be in charge of the 277 universities in Pakistan, thousands of professors, PhD scholars, and hundreds of thousands of students pursuing higher education.

The post had garnered over 400,000 views, 6,000 reposts, and 10,000 likes at the time of writing.

The screenshot of the above mentioned post on X, formerly known as Twitter. — X/@OryaMaqboolJan

Similar claims were also shared here, here and here.

Fact

Lieutenant General (retired) Ejaz is not the new chairperson of the HEC. In reality, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed was recently re-notified to continue as the head of the HEC.

Dr Ahmed shared the notification of his appointment with Geo Fact Check. The notification, dated August 7 and issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, clearly states that Dr Ahmed has been re-appointed as the chairperson of HEC for a period of one year, effective from July 30.

“Yes, I have been reappointed for one year,” Dr Ahmed told Geo Fact Check over the phone. “The online news is fake.”

Fact-check: Retired army officer not appointed HEC chairperson; heads National Technology Council instead

Neither is the new chairperson a former army officer. His profile is available on the HEC website.

However, Dr Ahmed did confirm that HEC has appointed Lt Gen (retired) Ejaz as chairperson of the National Technology Council (NTC), a body of the HEC tasked with regulating technology-related programmes in the country, for a period of four years.