Politicians in Pakistan have been left red-faced after an investigation found dozens of MPs have fake university degrees.

Hundreds more MPs have been told to submit their qualifications for verification.

The scandal has triggered fears of early elections and has inflamed a bitter dispute between journalists and members of parliament.

An investigation has found some MPs never finished their studies while others bought their qualifications from dodgy colleges.

The story has undermined public confidence in the honesty of some Pakistani politicians and was broken by several Pakistani journalists.

Higher education officials are now checking the degrees of more than 1,000 provincial and federal politicians across Pakistan.

The chief minister of Balochistan Province, Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani, told the press: "A degree is a degree, whether it is fake or genuine."

Other politicians have lashed out - the Punjab Assembly passed a resolution condemning the media for breaking the story.

That decision has triggered nationwide demonstrations by journalists.

Apology to journalists

The Punjab Assembly has now been forced to back down and yesterday it tried to repair the damage by passing a resolution recognising the pro-democracy role of journalists, lawyers and activists.

PML-N party leader Pervez Rasheed has apologised to the press and says action will be taken against MPs with fake qualifications.

"We are all united on the issue of fake degrees," he said.

"We all condemn the fake degree holders and we are not again going to give them party tickets for next elections. That is our principal stand.

"But as far as the media is concerned, we will rectify our mistake."

Some MPS accused the media of trying to destabilise the government and force an early election.

Other commentators say the story has been a clever distraction from more pressing issues, such as crippling price rises for basic goods.

The controversy has been played out in Punjab, the political powerhouse of Pakistan. What happens there can reverberate across the country.

Pakistani chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has condemned the MPs who faked their degrees, saying the whole nation needs basic ethics and can not bank on lies.

The editor-in-chief of English daily The National, Salim Bokari, says the Pakistani media outlets have endured decades of censorship and are now playing an important role in bringing parliamentarians to account.

"So media was terribly gagged and curbed, and since then it has been a really vibrant media and it's now almost impossible to gag it any more," he said.

"So that's the situation but it is very, very important for the media to be free."

The Higher Education Commission is expected to release a final report on Friday, which will reveal just how many Pakistani politicians have been hanging fake degrees on their wall.