LAHORE, Dec 28: Campaign for the Punjab University Academic Staff Association elections for 2009 is in full swing as the two rivals – Academic Group and Teachers’ Alliance – are doing door-to-door canvassing to woo around 450 voters on the varsity campuses. The polling is scheduled to be held on Tuesday (tomorrow).
The Academic Group is confident that it will win the election as it is banking on its past record, telling the prospective voters that it has always fought for teachers’ respect and dignity and got major projects completed during its tenure as association’s elected office-bearers.
The Teachers’ Alliance, which is a joint panel of the Academic Forum and the Teachers Front, is going for elections without making any tall claim. “We contested elections even when we were sure of our defeat. The exercise is done every year to maintain continuity,” said Teachers’ Alliance’s presidential candidate Prof Dr Saeed Ahmad Nagra.
Referring to the `propaganda’ that the alliance is banking on the support of the university administration, including vice-chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran, Prof Nagra said the panel was not getting any election support from the vice-chancellor. “The only difference is that the alliance this year is not facing opposition of the university administration, which is same for the rival group,” he claimed.
Academic Group President Prof Dr Haris Rashid, who has again fielded Dr Mumtaz Salik as presidential candidate, told Dawn that the group had been winning polls for over a decade. It had got materialised a number of major projects for the collective welfare of the university teachers, he said.
Being PUASA representatives, he said, they got the Model University Ordinance shelved after a year-long campaign in the country, got the Tenure Track System implemented after removing its shortcomings, got land for university teachers as well as got 28 new houses constructed on varsity campus during the last two years.
He said the Teachers’ Alliance’s candidates were part of the present administration and would never be able to act as a watchdog against “wrong or anti-teacher” policies of the administration. “It would serve only as a pocket union and nothing more,” he added.
Several Academic Group candidates alleged that the vice-chancellor was supporting the alliance by paying visits to different departments and holding selection board meetings to gather votes. A source said it was a tradition that the VC schedules meetings in a way that it should neither favour nor go against any contesting group.
Meanwhile, the case of Prof Dr Naseer Ahmad’s detention by police is also being exploited for election gain. The Academic Group leaders say Resident Officer-I Prof Dr Bashir Ahmad sent police officials to Prof Naseer’s residence and a majority of university teachers, at a PUASA general body meeting, was of the view that he (Prof Bashir) should resign from his post.
A source said the university administration had assured that Prof Bashir would be removed from his RO-I seat, if the PUASA did not pass resolution by name. The university administration, however, did not honour its commitment afterwards because of all those who were contesting elections.
When asked from a key university officer, he said, “Raat gai baat gai”.
Prof Nagra said Prof Bashir’s associates had right to react. “We would have reacted strongly, if Prof Bashir was removed from his office,” he added. He also said the point was that police went to Prof Naseer’s residence because his son-in-law was involved in Dec 3 firing incident in a university hostel. He said the accused, Hafiz Farhan, had always taken refuge in Prof Naseer’s residence after doing subversive activities in the university.
Meanwhile, a press statement says the PU syndicate members – Prof Dr Haris Rashid, Dr Mumtaz Anwar and Syed Ziaullah Shah -- have announced their support for the Academic Group panel in the forthcoming elections. The same news release stated that Academic Group’s candidates Dr Mumtaz Salik (president) and Dr Mahr Saeed Akhtar (secretary general) slated the university administration and said “the vice-chancellor wants to hijack the representative forum of PUASA from the university teachers to protect his bad governance and nepotism”.
For the last 10 months, they alleged, the university administration was polluting the academic atmosphere, creating insecurity among the academics and allowing the police to raid teachers’ residences. They also alleged that the university machinery was being used to help win the election by its group.