ISLAMABAD: After deferring all 10 legislative bills, a parliamentary panel on Friday came down hard on the administrations of International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) and Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) for their alleged administrative failures.

Presided over by its chairman MNA Najeebuddin Awaisi, National Assembly Standing Committee on Education at a meeting at the National Library dropped all the 10 proposed legislative bills after Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood and the parliamentary secretary education did not turn up as they were abroad.

Discussing the issues of IIUI and QAU, the committee members said these universities had been facing several administrative challenges.

MNAs Sadaqat Ali Abbasi and Ali Nawaz Awan pointed out that due to apparent mala fide intention the IIUI had furnished false information regarding total number of directors to the committee.

The meeting was informed that currently there were nine directors working at the IIUI. But MNA Abbasi, who is alumni of the university, said there were 13 directors and the IIUI was concealing the details about four.

Due to differences between offices of president and rector, IIUI is facing challenges, lawmakers say

When asked by the members, IIUI Rector Dr Masoom Yasinzai confirmed that there were 13 directors.

The lawmakers first decided to move a case to the privilege committee against the IIUI officials for furnishing false information. But later the IIUI rector assured the committee that he would probe the matter and take disciplinary action against the guilty officials.

The members said the IIUI had two administrative offices – president and the rector. Because of an apparent clash between the two offices, the university was facing challenges.

The members said because of the failure of the IIUI administration, recently a student was killed during a clash between two groups of students. The rector told the committee that a committee was probing the incident and soon after completion of the investigation its report would be shared with the committee.

IIUI acting president Prof Aqdas Naveed Malik also hinted that there were some differences between the rector and the president offices.

IIUI President Prof Dr Ahmed Yousif Ahmed Al Draiweesh is a Saudi national who does not understand and speak English and Urdu and runs the affairs of the university through handpicked officers.

Mr Malik revealed that IIUI was a public sector university and was being run through funding from the government of Pakistan. He said there was no funding from any foreign country.

“In the past, they [foreign countries] helped us in construction of hostels etc., but there is no other funding involved,” he said.

MNA Abbasi said IIUI, which has over 30,000 students, should have been a profit-earning university but because of weak administrative and financial control, the university was facing financial crunch.

Briefly discussing the issue of QAU, the committee members took strong notice of VC Dr Mohammad Ali’s absence from the meeting. The committee directed the QAU head to attend the next meeting.

The members were informed that the syndicate of the university had directed the QAU administration to initiate an inquiry against the registrar. The inquiry was completed, charges were proven but no action was taken.

The committee directed the QAU to attend the next meeting to explain his position as there were several administrative issues at the QAU such as encroachment on its land.

Members Dr Shazia Sobia, Nafeesa Khattak and Mehnaz Akber Aziz said irregularities in universities would not be tolerated.

After showing its serious concerns over the affairs of the universities, the committee decided to form a subcommittee, consisting of MNAs Sadaqat Abbasi and Ali Nawaz and others, to look into the issues of both the institutions.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2020