Students and teachers, who had been expressing concern over administrative measures taken during the recent months, vowed to resist the “arbitrary actions and decision” by the varsity authorities and declared to continue their protest till their demands were met.
After getting a rough treatment at the hands of the Campus Security Force and law-enforcing agencies deployed on the campus, students had staged a sit-in on the campus on Wednesday to register their protest and had warned the university administration that they would continue their campaign if their demands were not met and the varsity authorities did not desist from taking “arbitrary” decisions.
On Thursday morning groups of students went round different departments to urge students and teachers to boycott classes. The chalking on the walls and display of posters by students’ organizations reflected the students’ worries and resentment on different issues, including “the use of torture on students,” forced retirement of a senior varsity teacher in summary manner and the move by the administration to set up a marriage hall with commercial motives on the premises of the Shaikh Zayed Islamic Research Centre on the campus.
Teaching activities came to a complete halt around 10:30am, when teachers also decided to abstain from classes. It was a complete strike on Thursday, said a student group’s leader, adding that the protest would continue till certain administrative actions were withdrawn and FIR was lodged against varsity officers responsible for manhandling of students by security staff and law-enforcing agencies’ personnel.
Talking to a group of reporters, vice-chancellor Dr Zafar Saied Saify said he was not going to give in before teachers’ and students’ boycott and would continue taking measures in the larger interest of the university.
Commenting on Wednesday’s boycott and the strained relations between the vice-chancellor, teachers, students and non-teaching staff, a watch and ward staff sitting near the administrative block said the day was peaceful in the sense that there was no action against the protesters. However, the VC, being the guardian of the campus population, should establish contacts with all sections on the campus in order to resolve the issues, he added.
A couple of other staff on the campus was of the view that certain officials and a member of the KU Syndicate, a frequent visitor to the varsity’s high offices, were out to exploit the situation for their own gain.
A senior teacher likened Thursday’s boycott of classes to the one which was jointly observed by teachers and students some six years back. He said the members of the KU Syndicate, without any further delay, should act and decide that whether the VC or the registrar or any of their subordinates, alone, had the powers to take “harsh” actions against students, teachers and non-teaching staff.
A sizable number of teachers assembled at the Arts Auditorium of the university on Thursday to protest against the “arbitrary” action of sending Prof Pervez Akhtar Siddiqui, an elected member of the KU Syndicate, on forced retirement.
Teachers, who spoke on the occasion, deplored the action and maintained that it had been taken without following the procedures as prescribed in the University code. One of the speakers said the KU administration was victimizing teachers despite the superiors courts’ directives that the VC should hold talks with the teachers.
Late in the evening, a spokesman for the Students’ Alliance of the University of Karachi, said a meeting between the students’ group and the VC could not be held in the afternoon, though they had been invited by the Students’ Adviser of the university.
A spokesman for the University maintained that there was a partial boycott of classes on Thursday. “A group of 20-25 mischievous elements, from among the Varsity students, entered different classrooms and forced students out,” he said, adding that these elements also tried to create law and order situation and misbehaved with teachers, but no action had been taken against them keeping in view the VC’s directive to avoid unpleasantness on the campus.
He said arrangements were being made to provide protection to students from “miscreants,” and violence would not be tolerated on the campus. At the request of the Karachi University Teachers Society’s secretary, Sarwar Nasim, the vice-chancellor had invited the teachers representatives to tea at 11am on Saturday, he added.
The Students Alliance demanded of the Sindh governor and the 5th Corps Commander to take notice of the situation on the campus and prevail upon the University administration to withdraw arbitrary actions against teachers and students and non-teaching staff.
The tender pertaining to the setting up of a marriage hall at the Shaikh Zayed Islamic Research Centre also be cancelled, it demanded.