LARKANA: Teachers at Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU) in Larkana and Shah Abdul Latif University (SALU) in Khairpur continued their boycott of academic activities on Wednesday and staged sit-ins, calling upon the universities’ management to accept their demands.
Teachers and doctors at SMBBMU boycotted the work for the second consecutive day and held a sit-in at a camp pitched outside the administration block of Chandka Medical College (CMC).
The protesters demanded the university raise their salary, grant promotions to the eligible and bring allowances and other privileges beig given to them at par with those of other universities.
Prof Dr Riaz Shaikh, head of the department of pharmacology at SMBBMU; Prof Dr Safdar Shaikh, chairman of the department of physiology; Prof Abdul Wahhab Shaikh and Prof Ihsan Malik also briefly joined the protesters at the camp.
Dr Abdul Rasheed Shaikh, convener of the teachers’ association, said the university administration was not ready to accept their demands. It was instead trying to further complicate the situation, he said.
He said that Deputy Commissioner Kashif Tipu had met the protesting teachers and assured them that he would talk to the university’s vice chancellor Prof Dr Ghulam Asghar Channa on their issues.
The protesters alleged in a press release that the university had reserved a piece of plot owned by CMC near Chandka Bridge for the construction of Commissioner House and the decision had been taken without consulting estate officer, the college principal, governor, senate or syndicate.
Sources said that CMC vice principal Prof Dr Mohammad Hanif Shaikh also visited the protesters’ camp on Wednesday and requested them to call off their sit-in but they declined his request and said they would continue the protest till the acceptance of their demands.
KHAIRPUR: SALU teachers continued their protest before vice chancellor’s secretariat on the fourth consecutive day, urging the university to accept their demands.
They also observed a token hunger strike.
The protesters condemned injustices by the university administration and vowed to continue the protest till the university accepted their demands.
Meanwhile, civil society activists criticised teachers for suspending academic activities at the university.
Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2018
