PESHAWAR: Even three days after the start of the current month, the University of Peshawar has not paid salary to the members of its teaching and non-teaching staff due to the prolonged campus closure caused by their month-long boycott of duties.

University employees told Dawn that the nonpayment of salary had disturbed them and their family members amid high inflation.

They said some of them on Monday tried to storm the office of the vice-chancellor but office-bearers of their associations stopped them from doing so.

The protesters shouted slogans against the vice-chancellor for not releasing funds for the payment of their salary.

The employees, who have been boycotting duties for more than a month, have shown up every day at a protest camp they have set up outside the administration block of the university.

Protesting staff members threaten to storm VC office

They boycotted classes and other duties on the call of their joint action committee on March 6, a day after the killing of security adviser of the university Saqlain Bangash by a private guard.

The JAC comprising members of the Peshawar University Teachers Association (Puta) and Class-III and Class-IV Association of the university have demanded the immediate removal of the vice-chancellor, a judicial inquiry into the killing of the security supervisor, removal of arms from the campus, and psychological examination of all guards.

When contacted, Vice-Chancellor Mohammad Idrees said no one was there to prepare the documents required for the payment of salary to staff members due to the strike, which had been under way for the last one month. He said that the monthly salary to be paid to staff members totalled around Rs300 million and the university was ready to do so, but no one was there to prepare documents for it.

“The employees have locked all offices and no one attends duties. In such a situation, who will prepare the salary bills?”

The VC said around 40-50 employees of the university had hijacked the entire university and forced the rest of the teaching and non-teaching staff from their duties.

He said the peaceful staff members, including teachers, should not follow the protesting employees, who were playing with the future of students, and that such employees should join their duties without delay.

“The salary amount will be released if the employees call off strike and join their duties,” he said.

He said the University of Peshawar charged students high fees but their entire month had been wasted by their protesting teachers without giving “any cogent reason” for their strike. President of Class-IV Employees Association Imdad Khan told Dawn that the non-payment of salaries amid high inflation had perturbed junior staff members.

“Household expenses go up two times in the fasting month of Ramazan, so the non-payment of salaries to employees has added to their misery,” he said.

He warned that employees would attack the office of the VC if their salaries were not released on Tuesday.

“As inflation has hit an all-time high, no one is ready to lend money to us. The government should take notice of the closure of the university and resolve all issues to the relief of staff members and students,” he said.

Meanwhile, students of the University of Peshawar complained about the prolonged boycott of classes by teachers and said the strike was causing a learning loss.

They said they had paid huge fees but their education had been suspended for many weeks due to a tussle between teachers and the administration.

The students called for the immediate resolution of issues between teachers and university administration through dialogue to prevent further waste of their time.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Ghulam Ali recently tried persuading the University of Peshawar’s teachers to end their month-long strike, but the latter didn’t budge and reiterated their demand for the removal of the vice-chancellor.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2023