PESHAWAR: A teacher of the historic Islamia College University (ICU) was shot dead by a security guard over a petty issue.

There were conflicting reports about an exchange of heated arguments between the accused and the deceased on different petty issues, which however, couldn’t be confirmed by the employees of the university.

The slain teacher was identified as Bashir Ahmed, a resident of Tordher in Mardan district. He was serving in the English department of the university as a lecturer, according to an official of Campus police station. Police registered FIR against the security guard, Sher Mohammad, a resident of Sarband area of Peshawar.

An official of ICU told Dawn that the teacher and security guard exchanged some hot words at the time of occurrence.

Both the teacher and security guard had also exchanged hot words a month ago over an unknown issue. After exchange of hot words, the teachers had approached the director security of the university, asking him to transfer the security guard to avoid the any untoward incident in future.

The administration transferred the security guard from the university and deployed him at Islamia Collegiate School, a constituent institution of ICU. However, the issue was resolved amicably when some senior professors intervened.

A professor of ICU told Dawn that the deceased teacher used to shoot birds with an air-gun on weekends on the university premises. On Sunday, he was shooting birds with his air-gun when he came across the security guard.

An employ of the university told Dawn that both exchanged hot words again which caused the assassination of the teacher.

The employee, who had seen the CCTV footage of the incident, said the security guard fired with his gun at the teacher and killed him on the spot.

Administration shuts Islamia College University after the incident

The official of Campus police station said that the incident took place right at the gate of Islamia Collegiate. He said that the accused managed to escape and a case was filed against him.

To avoid further unrest, the administration closed the university on the pretext of the spring vacations, which usually starts in the last week of February.

“It is notified for the information of all concerned that Islamia College Peshawar and its constituent institutes will observe spring vacations with effect from February 20 to March 25,” said a notification issued after the incident.

It said that all co-curricular and extra-curricular activities including tests and interviews were postponed and would be rescheduled accordingly.

Teaching Staff Association Islamia College University condemned the assassination of the faculty member by a security guard, according to a statement issued here.

The president of the association, Dr Izhar Ahmed, demanded of the government to conduct inquiry into the matter and award punishment to the relevant people.

He said that the assassination of one of the faculty members on the campus raised questions over the performance of the university administration and security.

He said that security staff and officials of the university administration should also be probed by the inquiry committee. He said that the assassination of the teacher spread insecurity among the students and teachers.

The vice-chancellor and registrar of the university could not be reached despite repeated attempts. The teaching staff will observe three-day protest by wearing black ribbon after resuming academic activities.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2023