KARACHI: Teachers in a meeting held on Thursday at Karachi University (KU) expressed their strong concern over the arrests of their colleagues in other parts of the country and demanded that the government bring the actions of law enforcement agencies within the ambit of law.

According to sources, members of the Karachi University Teachers’ Society (Kuts) in its executive body meeting unanimously condemned the arrests of former vice chancellor of Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Prof Khawja Alqama and assistant professor of the Punjab University Dr Ghalib Ata.

“Teachers are extremely concerned over the arrests of and the maltreatment meted out to former vice chancellor Prof Alqama and Dr Ata. Teachers who are accused of violating law should be called in for investigation but arresting them like they are criminals and terrorists is a dangerous action,” says a Kuts statement.

Such a ‘treatment’, it said, would create unrest in educational institutions and might lead to a strong reaction from the teaching fraternity.

It is noteworthy that Prof Alqama, a seasoned academic and ex-ambassador to Yemen, was held along with the university campus director by the National Accountability Bureau on allegations of irregularities and violation of rules in the establishment of a university’s sub-campus in Lahore over a month ago.

Dr Ata, on the other hand, was recently arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department of Punjab Police for his alleged links with the banned Hizbut Tahrir.

“University teachers belong to the most respectable section of society and it’s a big disgrace for them to be handcuffed publicly and arrested,” said president of Kuts Dr Shakeel Farooqi, adding that the law enforcement agencies should respect teachers’ status and called them for investigation.

Teachers at the meeting, he pointed out, had demanded that investigations should be held according to law and teachers should immediately be released.

“Besides, there is something called ‘freedom of speech’, which is part of basic fundamental human rights and needs to be respected on university campuses. One should not be targeted for speaking his mind,” he said.

The members also criticised the Sindh provincial government for its failure to arrest the murderers of Prof Shakeel Auj and Dr Waheed-ur-Rehman. Both victims’ families were yet to receive the compensation announced by the government months ago, they said. They also agreed to warn the university administration to reimburse amounts pending on account of medical bills before the convocation.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2015