KU plagued by problems: Campus round-up

The University of Karachi with respect to its enrolment and academic facilities has become one of the biggest public sector universities in the country, but at the same time it confronts a host of problems on the academic, research, administrative and financial fronts.

A succession of vice-chancellors have tried to manage the affairs of the university in their own ways and on the basis of resources and power available. But all faced pressures built up in the wake of campus unrest, both among students and the teaching staff.

Some key administrative posts, including those of registrar, controller of examinations and director of bureau of composition, compilation and translation, have remained subject to ad-hoc appointments and qualified individuals have felt discouraged from applying for the posts. The problem can perhaps be attributed to the overall environment of the university.

It is over a month and a half since the registrar, a senior teacher, was appointed dean of the science faculty, and a replacement has yet to be found. This will probably be another appointment on ad-hoc basis. Meanwhile, Prof Dr Mohammad Qaiser is looking after both the registrar's office and his deanship.

Teachers feel that faculty members volunteering for the post of registrar would not only be unable to continue academic and research activities but would also have to face a plethora of problems concerning students, teachers and employees of the university and thus get unnecessarily involved with extraneous matters.

An instance can be such irritating occurrences as the complaint by a woman member of the science faculty that her instrument room was broken into and research material, equipment and chemicals were taken away by the director of the centre where she was working.

The teacher says two research projects awarded to her by the Higher Education Commission and the Pakistan Agriculture Council were in progress and the reported unilateral action by the centre's director has interrupted them.

The registrar says the vice-chancellor has taken serious notice of the development and directives have been issued to the quarters concerned to uphold the prestige and dignity of teachers on the campus.

In principle, it has been decided that no authority, including the head of any department or section, would resort to breaking the lock of any room in the use of a teacher or official and get it forcibly vacated without the advance approval of the vice- chancellor.

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The KU conferred an honorary degree of DLitt on the spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community, Syedna Muhammad Burhanuddin, at a special convocation held on June 5 at the Governor's House.

The citation, as read out by the acting dean of the arts faculty of the university, says Syedna's contribution towards humanitarian causes in Pakistan, particularly in the field of education, has been exemplary and noteworthy.

The degree has been awarded to the Bohra leader, who was on a visit to Pakistan, in recognition of his "multifarious services to the human race, a noble legacy handed over to him by his predecessors".

A chair was established at the KU with an endowment from Syedna Burhanuddin many years back to undertake research on the contribution of scholars of the subcontinent to the Arabic language.

With another donation from him, a building named after him has been completed for the department of genetics and is awaiting formal inauguration.

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The NED University of Engineering and Technology held a seminar on urban and regional planning the other day. The chairman of the organizing department of architecture and planning, Prof Noman Ahmad, claimed that the event was the first of its kind at the university.

It was attended among others by Dr Baykan Gunay of the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, and architect and planner Pali Wijeratne from Sri Lanka.

The university is now preparing for its second international symposium on infrastructure engineering in developing countries. The moot, planned to be held in September, will be spread over three technical sessions.

In the meantime, a delegation from the University Technologi Petromas, Malaysia, will be here on June 25 or 26 to discuss the possibilities of having collaboration in research, faculty exchange and higher studies for NED university students in Malaysia, according to Prof Dr S. F. A. Rafeeqi, dean of the civil engineering and architecture faculty.

The senate of the university is scheduled to meet on July 8, with the Sindh governor, who is also chancellor of the university, in the chair. Among other items on agenda, the senate would consider budgetary proposals for the new financial year.

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After a rumpus at the Sindh Medical College, which is one of the constituent colleges of the Dow University of Health Sciences, teaching was suspended on June 13. A group of enraged students caused damage to the community medicine department.

However, the good news is that students who reportedly created the trouble have tendered an apology to the college principal, Prof Naushad A. Shaikh, and their parents have agreed to bear the cost of repairing the damage done to the college.

EU now faces a more daunting task

BRUSSELS: Having finally agreed a long-elusive new treaty for an expanded EU at a summit in Brussels last week, the bloc's 25 presidents and prime ministers now face the even more daunting task of convincing their increasingly sceptical citizens to back the deal.

Aware of the battle ahead, EU leaders ended their summit by labelling the constitution a 'historic' success. "It's a great achievement for Europe. it's a great achievement for all Europeans," said a jubilant Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern who hosted the Brussels meeting and helped broker the landmark deal.

But even as champagne corks popped to celebrate the pact, EU leaders were braced for an uphill struggle to sell the deal to the public by autumn 2006 - the deadline for ratification of the constitution.

EU policymakers say they are confident that the treaty will be endorsed. "This is a compromise deal which is acceptable to all," said a spokesman for the European Commission.

Europeans, however, are not as enamoured of Europe " and European politicians as they used to be. As illustrated by the drubbing received by most EU leaders in last week's elections to the European Parliament, the bloc's voters are either indifferent to all issues related to Europe or increasingly sceptical about the Union.

As a result, securing public and parliamentary support for the new constitution is unlikely to be easy. "The overriding political priority will be to win the battle for hearts and minds in all 25 member states to ensure ratification," said John Palmer, political director of the Brussels-based European Policy Centre think tank.

With referendum due in nine or ten countries, "the entire project is still highly vulnerable to rejection" in any one country, Palmer said, noting that the fiercest battle would be fought in Britain where "pro-European politicians face a massive uphill struggle to turn around a deeply sceptical public."

In addition to Britain, Denmark and Ireland, which have confirmed plans for referendums, half a dozen other countries including Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain are likely to hold one.

In theory the constitution must be ratified by all EU member states to come into force. British Prime Minister Tony Blair returned to Britain in upbeat mood, saying he had made no concessions on his 'red lines,' a reference to Britain's insistence that it would not give up the national veto on taxation, social welfare, defence on foreign policy.

Blair also insisted that EU enlargement had changed the Union's dynamics, with France and Germany no longer able to set the agenda for the 25 nation bloc. French President Jacques Chirac has countered that the new constitution is 'good for Europe and good for France.'

The new treaty - agreed after two years of discussion - sets the seal on a number of key innovations for the bloc. The Council of Ministers will have a president to coordinate policy and represent the bloc on the world stage.

The treaty also establishes a high-profile "foreign minister" for the E.U., a post likely to be filled by Javier Solana, the bloc's current high representative for foreign and security policy.

In an effort to ensure more effective decisions, national vetoes are being eliminated in 49 areas including regional aid and justice affairs. The size of the European Commission will be reduced as of 2014, and the European Parliament will see an increase in its powers.

The voting system agreed in Nice three years ago has been replaced by a simpler method that will see proposals adopted if they command the support of 55 percent of EU states representing 65 percent of the bloc's population.

Defence policy will continue to be made in national capitals, but a solidarity clause requires EU states to come to each other's help in the event of attack.

Christianity did not make its way into the constitution due to fierce opposition from secular states like France and Belgium but much to the dismay of the Vatican and staunchly Catholic countries like Poland and Italy.

Instead, there is a vague reference to Europe's "cultural, religious and humanist inheritance" in the preamble. Some of the euphoria over the constitution is likely to disappear as the bloc reopens the search for a new president of the European Commission following EU leaders' failure last week to select a new head of the EU executive.

Ireland's Ahern has said he wants to resolve the issue before July when the Dutch government takes over the chair of the 25 nation bloc. Diplomats say Ireland may convene a special meeting of EU leaders to settle the question.

But others warn that little has changed since the EU summit last week when the bloc's leaders quarrelled over who should h old the top EU job. In a surprise move last Friday frontrunner Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt - a strong favourite of France and Germany - dropped out of the acrimonious race after being strongly opposed by Britain and Italy.

Britain viewed the Belgian premier as too much in favour of a centralised "federal" Europe and also was critical of his anti-Iraq war stance. However, Chris Patten, the British favourite for the job, has also said he is no longer in the running.

With Verhofstadt and Patten out of the race, Ahern is expected to look for a compromise candidate from a long list of possible names. Solana is being mentioned as a possible consensus candidate.

New names being touted include French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier and Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, the Portuguese Prime Minister. Pat Cox, the Irish President of the European Parliament and Antonio Vitorino, the current Portuguese EU commissioner are possible candidates.

Kalabagh dam controversy

Commenting on a statement made by the chairman of the parliamentary committee on the water issue, Senator Nisar Memon, that the Kalabagh dam is a political and not a technical issue, Kawish asks what was the need to set up a technical committee if it is not a technical issue.

The daily says that the committee has to collect data about availability and use of water in the Indus river system and determine if there is sufficient water for a dam. The committee has not yet completed its job.

On the other hand, the parliamentary committee, which was formed to forge a national consensus on the issue, seems to have failed in this regard as its chairman has said that there still are reservations and apprehensions on the issue among the people.

Even the federal Minister for Water and Power, Aftab Sherpao, told President Gen Pervez Musharraf at a high=level meeting that the construction of the dam would intensify opposition to the government because Sindh and NWFP were still against it and Balochistan did not clearly support it.

Even then, the paper says, it is being said that the dam must be built and a proposal for a referendum on the issue has been floated. The paper says that the government should avoid taking a partial decision on such a sensitive issue.

It should abandon the Kalabagh idea and instead take up the Bhasha dam project which is acceptable to all the provinces. Referring to the Rs122.90 billion Sindh budget, Awami Awaz deplores that only Rs20.8 billion has been allocated for the development sector, Rs2.49 billion for education and Rs2.64 billion for health, which is a reflection on the government priorities.

Unless budgetary allocations for development, education and health sectors are substantially increased, the daily says, backwardness will remain fate of the province.

It regrets that the Sindh government has failed to emulate the Punjab government which has announced a plan to create one million jobs in the next fiscal year. Ibrat hails the transfer of 29 doctors, most of whom holding the domicile of Tharparkar, to the Tharparkar district.

The paper stresses the need to ensure that the doctors join healthcare facilities in the district, and refers to a common complaint that doctors serving in remote areas mostly remain absent from their work. Another problem being confronted by health centres in the district is shortage of medicines which must be addressed.

Hilal-i-Pakistan laments the killing of People's Party Parliamentarians' leader Munawwar Suharwardy. It says that the murder is not a good omen for national politics because it will intensify the sense of insecurity among the residents of the metropolis.