A DISTURBING incident took place at Shaikh Ayaz University in Shikarpur in which the vice-chancellor (VC) faced an attack in his office by a group of faculty members. In a tense turn of events, he managed to save himself by leaving his office and locking himself inside the meeting hall from where he summoned police assistance. By the time a police contingent arrived, the culprits had fled the scene.

The confrontation arose after a court order required the withdrawal of certain additional administrative responsibilities from faculty members. Resentment against the order led some faculty members to refuse handing over official records and to vacate their offices. The situation escalated into a physical confrontation, as these individuals sought to disrupt the university’s functioning.

For years, Shaikh Ayaz University has been dominated by entrenched, mafia-like elements who tend to treat the VC as no more than a pawn, manipulating the institution for their own advantage. This is not a trivial matter. An attack against the head of a public university should have been front-page news, but the coverage of this serious incident remained dispropor-tionately limited.

The VC has the support of the local civil society because, since his appointment, vested interests have launched a campaign to tarnish his reputation on social media. When that strategy failed, they resorted to intimidation and violence. Artificially created conflicts threaten to undermine the institution’s growth. The hope now lies in the continued support of Shikarpur’s civil society, and, crucially, in the backing of government and academic authorities, to protect the university from vested interests and to ensure that it fulfils its potential.

Naseem Bukhari
Shikarpur

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2026