PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, after holding an official inquiry into the Jan 20 terrorist attack on Bacha Khan University, has ordered to remove the university security chief from service as well as include him in the investigation.
The vice-chancellor of the university has been spared with only a warning ‘to be more diligent in future’.
Asad Qaiser, the acting governor, who is also chancellor of the public sector university by designation, has issued these directives after the government concluded its inquiry and held both the vice-chancellor and security chief responsible for ‘serious lapses in the security management’ of the university which resulted in loss of 18 lives when terrorists struck Bacha Khan University in Charsadda on Jan 20, 2016.
The government has ordered to punish the varsity official after holding him responsible for security lapse. It is not much surprising that the vice-chancellor got away that easily as so far the government has not even bothered to hold the district police, responsible for the security of the entire district of Charsadda, accountable for failing in their duty too.
The security and government officials concerned have also escaped punishment for security lapse earlier in a more brutal terrorist attack on Army Public School in Peshawar Cantonment on Dec 16, 2014.
Govt warns VC Bacha Khan University to be more diligent in future
The three-member committee comprising Peshawar Commissioner Dr Mohammad Fakhr-i-Alam, Mardan Regional Police Officer Saeed Wazir and Higher Education Special Secretary Ghafoor Baig had recommended that by ignoring security advisories, “the university leadership failed its students and employees at all levels”.
The provincial government, contrary to what was recommended by the committee, went on with its own decision to spare the vice-chancellor and punish only the security chief for the lapse.
“The governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa/chancellor Bacha Khan University Charsadda, despite stringent recommendations of the inquiry committee, which probed into the incident that occurred at BKU on Jan 20, 2016, has been pleased to issue you a warning to be more diligent in future,” said an official directive issued to the vice-chancellor of the university.
The probe committee’s main recommendation to the government was to remove both Vice-chancellor Dr Fazal Rahim Marwat and security chief Ashfaq Ahmad.
Criticism from senate of the university and social circles, following the release of the inquiry report, may have forced the government to change its mind about the vice-chancellor.
The entire responsibility of security failure has been shifted to the security chief, who must also get ready for questioning since it has also been ordered to include him in the investigation.
In another separate official letter to the vice-chancellor of the university, the government also approved some of the recommendations of the inquiry committee into the tragic incident including removal of security chief Ashfaq Ahmad as per relevant law, fixing pay of the security guards hired on daily wages and hiring only ex-servicemen as security guards. The government also approved a suggestion that only a senior ex-serviceman should be hired as chief of security.
The government also approved the recommendation of the inquiry committee to devise an adequate weapons and training programme for security staff of the university.
“Amongst other measures, the university should also hire experts to put in place a proper control room and CCTV mechanism so that immediate response is ensured in such situation,” the government ordered.
Despite two brutal attacks on educational institutions, no one in the government, whether a minister or an official, has resigned to admit his failure to protect the students in a government-run educational institution.
Awami National Party, which had earlier put its weight behind Dr Marwat when the inquiry committee recommendations came to limelight to remove him, once again in a press release, issued here on Tuesday, rejected the government’s decision to hold the targeted institution responsible for security lapse.
“Holding the administration of Bacha Khan University responsible for security lapse is totally unjust,” said ANP general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain.
He also called the inquiry committee ‘controversial’ and said that acting governor should not have taken decision on its recommendations.
Mr Hussain said that it looked like government was trying to avoid judicial inquiry into the incident and that’s why it was in a hurry to conclude the matter.
Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2016