PESHAWAR: The Peshawar University Teachers Association (Puta) on Sunday threatened to launch a protest across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa if the provincial government removed the vice-chancellor of the University of Peshawar from his post in the degree case of PTI MNA Murad Saeed.

In a hurriedly-called meeting, the executive committee of Puta described the provincial government’s reported decision to remove the VC as illegal and unconstitutional.

In a statement issued here, the Puta said that it considered the summary for the removal of VC Dr Rasul Jan as political interference in the affairs of the autonomous educational institution.

It said that it (Puta) would launch a protest throughout the province in public sector universities if the summary was not withdrawn immediately.

It said the senate, syndicate and chancellor’s offices were the only legal authorities to enquire and interfere in the universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as per the Universities Act 2012.

Say decision illegal, asks govt to withdraw summary

Puta president Dr Fazle Nasir chaired the meeting, which was attended by office-bearers of the association. The agenda of the meeting was to discuss a report regarding removal of Dr Rasul Jan over Murad Saeed’s degree case. The executive committee showed its displeasure over the decision of the provincial government.

The summary, Puta claimed, was the personal act of a senior official in the Higher Education Department because the VC had issued a show cause notice to his close relative serving in a UoP’s constituent school.

The Puta demanded of the political leadership of PTI to issue a policy statement on the subject, clarifying its position on autonomy of public sector universities. It said that victimisation and defamation of the university professors under the pretext of accountability would not be accepted.

The Puta said that Murad Saeed was a student of the UoP, which had clear-cut rules to deal with its students. It said that the political leadership should clear its party position before the MA/MSc examinations on Aug 13, 2015 so that the faculty could work wholeheartedly.

The statement claimed that in the last two and a half years of the PTI government in the province no financial assistance was given to the UoP.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2015

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