ISLAMABAD: The board of trustees of the Islamic International University Islamabad will meet on Monday (today) after a delay of almost three years, following the intervention of Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who had asked President Arif Alvi to summon the board meeting being the varsity chancellor.

Initially, the meeting was supposed to be held on November 30, but it was postponed at the last minute because the agenda and working papers were not released on time. Subsequently, it was rescheduled for Dec 11.

The BoT is the policy-making forum of the university and according to the ordinance of the university, it must meet at least once a year. However, after June 2020, no board meeting was held. CJP Isa, also a member of the board, sought some information from the varsity administration to update himself about its affair. He was denied this information by an official of the university.

FIA team ‘harasses’ varsity employee, returns phones after minister’s intervention

After the refusal of the university to share general information with the top judge, Justice Isa requested President Alvi to convene the much-delayed meeting of BoT. President Alvi finally announced a meeting at his request.

Some officials claim the management wanted to avoid questions about protracted temporary appointments in the university. For instance, vice presidents at IIUI have been serving in the same post for the past three years based on ‘till further orders’ notifications. Even though, at its last meeting in 2020, the BoT had asked the varsity to frame rules regarding the appointment of the varsity president, which was decided to be made on merit through a competitive process.

“The 14th meeting of the BoT while deliberating on the appointment of the president (vice chancellor) of the IIUI agreed with the proposal of the chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and instructed the IIUI rector to frame and finalise the rules for the appointment of the university president through the board of governors in consultation with the HEC,” read the decision of BoT.

The implementation of this task was to be completed in three months and draft rules were supposed to be presented before the board of governors for approval and BoT in separate meetings. Sources said after the approval of these rules, the IIUI president could not be appointed on a ‘pick-and-choose’ basis.

FIA raid at IIUI

In a separate development, a team of the Federal Investigation Agency attempted to arrest varsity employee Hassan Shabbir Mir on Friday in connection with a harassment complaint against him filed by IIUI Assistant Director Al Hasan.

The investigation team left the varsity premises after the intervention of students who had gathered outside the office in solidarity with Mr Mir, who had managed to lock himself in a room to avoid the FIA officials. The team, however, managed to take two of his cell phones along. The university officials also approached a federal minister, who intervened and on Friday evening, the FIA officials handed the mobiles back to the said employee.

In light of the raid, the Academic Staff Association (ASA) of the university issued a press release, expressing concerns about the “distressing incident faced by IIUI employee Hassan Shabbir Mir” on Dec 8.

“Armed individuals claiming to be the FIA officials harassed Hassan Shabbir on the premises of IIUI…[and] took his mobile phones into custody. We vehemently condemn this reprehensible behaviour and blatant highhandedness exhibited during what should be a safe and secure academic environment. Such actions represent an egregious attempt to stifle vocal and cogent voices on our campus that consistently advocate for the principles of rule of law, transparency, and merit,” the press release said.

They said the FIA’s raid a few days before the board meeting was concerning. When contacted, the IIUI spokesperson said that the raid had nothing to do with the BoT meeting.

The spokesperson claimed that the FIA had also issued a notice of attendance to Hassan Shabbir Mir to appear before the agency today.

On the other hand, Al Hassan told Dawn he filed a complaint against Shabbir Mir a couple of months ago over “online harassment and character assassination”. He said that the issue had nothing to do with the BoT meeting being held today and added that he would pursue his case against Mr Mir at all costs.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2023