KARACHI: The University of Karachi on Wednesday formed a committee to investigate the alleged incident in which a student organisation forcibly stopped several students of the university from celebrating Holi on the campus on Tuesday.

According to a notification, a fact-finding committee has been constituted to probe the matter reported at the Sindhi department on March 7.

The committee comprises KU dean of law retired justice Hassan Feroz (convener), MPA Sadia Javed, who is also a member of KU syndicate, and Assistant Professor Mukesh Kumar of the department of computer science.

“Though a complaint in writing has been received from a student, we can’t say anything with certainty right now,” KU Vice Chancellor Prof Khalid Iraqi said when asked about the nature of the complaint.

Under university rules, he pointed out, students were required to take prior permission for organising programmes on the campus so that proper arrangements could be made, if required.

“In this case, however, the university administration had no information about any such activity. Even the chairperson of Sindhi department wasn’t informed (by students),” he said, adding that the same day Holi was celebrated on the campus by the varsity employees when this incident reportedly occurred.

“But, our employees who wanted to celebrate the festival on the campus residential area took prior permission from the university for the event,” he said, adding that the committee would submit its report within two weeks.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2023