KARACHI: Academic activities will remain suspended at Karachi University (KU) on Thursday in protest against Dr Waheed-ur-Rehman’s murder, announced KU teachers at a press conference held in the arts auditorium on Wednesday evening.

It’s the fifth murder of a university teacher within the past two years in Karachi following which the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association’s Sindh chapter announced that classes at all varsities across the province would be suspended for over two hours on Thursday.

Also read: KU professor shot dead in Karachi

Earlier, KU dean of Islamic studies Prof Shakeel Auj, KU dean of medicine Prof Jawaid Iqbal Kazi, Dr Masood Baig (a cooperative teacher of the Islamic learning department of KU) and Mohammad Yousuf aka Muntazir Mehdi of the NED University of Engineering and Technology had been killed in separate incidents.

The press briefing followed an executive body meeting of Karachi University Teachers Society (Kuts) that would hold a condolence meeting on the campus on Thursday.

“We demand that the government take immediate measures to arrest the killers, arrange compensation for the victim’s family and provide job to the wife of the deceased,” said president of the society Prof Jamil Hasan Kazmi, accompanied by fellow teachers.

Grieving for his colleague, Prof Kazmi said that KU teachers wouldn’t remain silent on this murder and raise their voice at every forum to lodge their protest.

“It’s the fifth murder of a university teacher in the city within two years. It seems that a sustained effort is being made to silence the voice of intellectuals who want to see society progress,” he said, adding that the city’s situation was compelling professionals to leave for greener pastures.

“Teachers are an asset for any society. It literally takes years of hardship and struggle, along with financial resources, to produce good teachers. It’s tragic that society is losing them so fast,” he said.

He regretted that the law enforcement agencies couldn’t make real progress in Prof Auj’s murder case and the real culprits were still at large. The victim’s family was yet to receive compensation amount announced by the government, he said.

Raising their concern over lack of security, teachers said that they had been asking the government to provide them with adequate security for a long time but nothing had been done so far. The KU administration hadn’t responded to teachers’ security plans submitted some months ago.

Housing, transport

Most KU teachers, they said, lived outside the campus and came to the university on their own transport, risking their life daily. The government, they said, should increase accommodation facility for teachers on the campus that currently provided housing facility to only 225 teachers, though their number had increased to 770.

“And if that can’t be done, then, at least the government should provide transport facility to teachers living outside the campus,” said secretary of the society Dr Haris Shoaib.

The society will hold a general body meeting on Monday to chalk out a strategy for agitation.

Earlier during the day, classes at the university were suspended immediately after the news of the murder reached the campus and later dozens of students staged a protest rally against the killing.

They remained at KU’s Silver Jubilee Gate for hours, shouting slogans to condemn the killing. They also blocked traffic on the main road for some time before dispersing peacefully.

Meanwhile, Higher Education Commission chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed and representatives of the NED University Teachers Association also expressed their deep sorrow and grief over the tragic death of Prof Waheed.

The teachers association announced that a day of mourning would be observed at the NED university on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2015

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