PESHAWAR: Peshawar University’s Teacher Association (Puta) has requested the chief minister, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muhammad Sohail Afridi, who also happens to the chancellor of the university, for a bailout package of Rs1.5 billion for the University of Peshawar.

The association, in a letter informed the chief minister that the university was facing serious financial issues and the situation had reached a critical point that the university was unable to meet its basic and lawful obligations towards its employees.

“The persistent shortfall in funds has resulted in the non-disbursement of salaries, pensions and pension commutation, causing severe financial hardship and unrest among teaching faculty, officers and employees,” it said.

The association informed the chief minister that the alarming situation had not only demoralised the workforce but also seriously disrupted the academic environment of the university.

It said that research activities across departments had come to a standstill, academic productivity suffering and the smooth functioning of the university’s administrative and academic affairs severely compromised.

The letter said that If the crisis was not addressed immediately, it would cause irreparable damage to the academic reputation and institutional stability of the premier public sector university.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2026