KARACHI: Educational activity at KU institute under threat: Raids by demolition squad
By Mukhtar Alam
KARACHI, June 20: Academic environment at an institute of the University of Karachi is under threat due to, what its faculty members, employees and students said, ‘raids’ by Faisal Cantonment Board officials, along with some police personnel.
Senior KU officials told Dawn that despite the fact that the university was fully responding to the Board’s queries regarding the additional construction at the Institute of Clinical Psychology (ICP), Gulistan-i-Jauhar, the repeated visits by its demolition squad was beyond their comprehension.
According to ICP employees, the squad raided the institute first on June 1 and then on June 17 with the objective to demolish some structures raised there. The Board’s team also appeared to be hostile as it did not hesitate to ask the police personnel accompanying it to fire blank shots within the institute’s premises on June 17.
ICP in-charge Dr Riaz Ahmad said that the CB team and police entered the ICP premises without seeking permission and went in an inapt manner to the first floor to demolish the unfinished structure, work on which had already been stopped since the CB’s intervention. “They issued us a notice in March 2006, and since then we are in the process of meeting their requirements,” he said.
On her part, the executive officer of the CB, Zeenat Ahmad, claimed that the demolition squad had gone to the ICP after the university did not comply with the notices sent to it. “My team was not allowed to carry out the operation; and its members were subjected to confinement by the staff and students of the institute,” she alleged, adding that the local police had already been informed about the manhandling of the team members.
The ICP had been established as a constituent institution if the KU with a separate board of governors/advisory body to offer diploma, MPhil and PhD degrees, and other such degrees, in different fields of Clinical Psychology, and also to offer counselling and guidance in various fields of mental health.
At present, there are about 70 students enrolled by the institute whereas 70-80 patients visit the institute to avail the facilities of clinical treatment, psycho diagnosis and psychotherapy. The staff of the institute said the whole set up was badly affected by the CB’s action.
An investigation into the affair shows that the Dean of Arts and Director of ICP, Dr Mohammad Shamsuddin, had informed the Faisal Cantonment Board’s executive officer in response to a notice that the institute had been established on plot number 118, Deh Okevari Taluka, (now Block-20 of Gulistan-i-Jauhar) under a directive of the president of Pakistan, who had laid its foundation stone in January 1986. The land had been allocated under the directive of the then Sindh governor whereas the construction work in the first phase had been undertaken with the permission of the KBCA. “We started construction of its second phase (i.e. second floor of the building) under a plan approved by the KU vice-chancellor and the Higher Education Commission,” Dr Shamsuddin told Dawn on Tuesday.
In reply to a question, he said the construction of the second floor had been started on the assumption that a permission from the CB was not required for the purpose. “However, as soon as the CB intervened, we stopped the construction activity,” he added..
It is learnt that a meeting of CB officials, university engineers and project managers was held in the presence of Ms Zeenat Ahmad on June 3 on the issue. As a follow-up, the university submitted some documents to the CB to prove that the ICP was a part of the university, said another KU official.
A source on the campus claimed that while the CB decided to exercise its powers, some vested interests were also on the move to force the university to surrender some additional land available to it.
Ms Zeenat Ahmad, while talking to Dawn, maintained that the Board was authorised by all means to quiz the university on the ‘illegal’ construction it was carrying out. Despite repeated notices and objections, she claimed, the construction work was continued and, as such, the demolition team had to be sent to the ICP.
“We simply asked the university to submit the proposed building plan for approval but it failed to respond positively,” she insisted. She regretted that the university had resorted to using its students to cover up its failure.
In reply to a question, she said that the CB could prove that the illegal construction work at the ICP had continued even on June 17 when the team had gone to demolish the structure.
“Moreover, some legislator from the area had informed the CB that he had contacted the Governor’s House and was told that the ICP was not a constituent part of the university and that the CB should intervene to stop the construction work,” she said.
Meanwhile, the KU engineering department and project director have claimed that a KU team had visited the office of the CB executive officer repeatedly for a meeting with Ms Ahmad but she refused to discuss the matter.
