Demanding release of missing colleague, K-P teachers criticise govt inaction

Islamia College University’s vice chancellor Ajmal Khan was abducted in Sept 2009.

PESHAWAR: Teachers in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have expressed lack of confidence over the government’s policies to provide security to them.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chapter of the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) met at Islamia College University (ICU) on Thursday to discuss the matter.

ICU’s Vice Chancellor Ajmal Khan and his chauffeur Mohibullah were kidnapped on September 7, 2010, and are still missing.

“The VC and his chauffeur were abducted from near his residence in Professors’ Colony while he was on his way to work,” said Faisal Shehzad, president of the ICU’s Teachers Association ICUTA. “Two years have gone by and the government has failed to recover them.”

Criticising the government’s policies, which he called weak, he said that insecurity was so pervasive that no one could enter the university’s premises at night. He said that the war had also adversely affected education in the province.

FAPUASA President Dr Humayun Khan said that time and again, the association had requested the government and registered their protest for the safe recovery of the VC and his chauffeur but to no avail.

“Teachers of ICU have been boycotting classes daily from 10am to 12pm. We know that students’ precious time is being wasted because of this protest but the government has left us with no other option,” he said.

Professor Ajmal’s abduction is not an isolated incident. In 2009, Kohat University of Science and Technology’s Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Lutfullah Kakakhel was also kidnapped but later released.

The teachers suggested the constitution of a committee which would meet Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and others at the helm of affairs and bring the matter to their attention in order to find a solution. They demanded that the government must work sincerely for the safe release of the VC and his chauffeur.