09 January 2004	Friday	16 Ziqa'ad 1424

PESHAWAR, Jan 8: The Pukhtun Students Federation has condemned the appointment of a retired army general as vice-chancellor of the Peshawar University.

Terming it militarisation of the civil society, the PSF vowed to oppose such appointments. Speaking at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday, PSF President Sardar Ahmed Khan Yusufzai was of the view that the NWFP had been selected for "a permanent army rule".

He said retired brigadiers were running the affairs of all the intermediate and secondary boards as their chairmen and a retired army general had been appointed as vice-chancellor of the Peshawar University. This, he added, was unprecedented in the history of the province.

Mr Yousufzai said a retired air vice-marshal was heading the prestigious NWFP University of Engineering and Technology as its vice-chancellor. The people of the NWFP, he said, were faced with an unmatched situation, wherein they had been forced to live under a "permanent martial law". The present regime had taken over the charge of all the educational institutions in NWFP, which was against the basics of the academic freedom, he added.

He said the PSF being a vanguard of the progressive nationalist forces would start a protest drive against the arbitrary manner of the government regarding the apex appointment on the universities and other academic institutions.

The PSF president criticized the destruction of the botanical garden in the university premises. Supporting the demands of protesting students of botany department, he urged the university administration to restore the botanical garden.