In an awkward move to compensate a senior faculty member accused of harassment, the National University of Modern Languages removed the head of International Relations and appointed him to a related programme.
In addition, according to sources at NUML, the related programme — Peace and Conflict Studies — was bifurcated right after the probe committee suggested that the professor was not fit to head the department.
On March 7, a lecturer from the department had brawl with HOD Dr Zulfiqar A Qureshi after he allegedly stopped her from entering a class in which she was due to give a lecture.
“He shouted in front of students and also tried to grab her hand to stop her from going in,” said a student who was an eyewitness to the incident.
Later, both went to Academics Director Brig Azam Jamal and complained about each other. Jamal formed an investigation committee to look in to the matter.
Under HEC guidelines against sexual harassment, a formal complaint cell should be formed in university for lodging verbal or formal complaints.
As no such body exists in the varsity, a probe body was formed. The body was headed by Planning Director Brigadier Riyasat, Dr Hukamdad from the education department, the head of the economics department, the administration deputy director, and Student Affairs Director Taj Muhammad.
According to the HEC policy guidelines against sexual harassment, among other members in the hearing panel, four should be non-teaching staff and four teachers, while gender-balance must also be maintained.
The initial probe team was all male, and Economics HoD Saima Shafique was only added after the applicant objected to the team’s composition.
According to sources at the university, the accusations of harassment against Qureshi do not come as news, as an application was also submitted with administration by some female teachers in 2008 and he was removed being HOD of IR department at that time as well. But he was reappointed in 2011, replacing Dr Sohail Mahmood, who had annoyed university high-ups for defending a subordinate who was thrashed by the then-registrar, a former military official.
A teacher privy to the investigation told The Express Tribune that Qureshi told the probe committee that he was not allowing the teacher in class because he received complaints from students about her teacher style. When the committee asked Assistant Professor Sarwat from the students’ complaint body to verify this, however, Sarwat denied having received any complaints.
The probe body, after interviewing faculty, students and other stakeholders, reached the decision that the alleged HOD was incapable of heading the department, the teacher revealed.
Similarly, the final report has not been shared with members or even the applicant. The applicant was approached on her cell phone but it was turned off.
NUML Public Relations Officer Aamir Saleem commented that the decision has been made in line with the rules and with the discretion of the competent authority. When asked why the committee’s were not completely followed, he repeated the same answer.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 9th, 2014.
COMMENTS (3)
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cases of harassment victimization are not new in numl a sizeable number of faculty has taken leave applied for jobs abroad retired superannuated govt officials army officers who lack qualification criteria are appointed as head of department while young faculty members are discouraged .above all it is not cleared yet that numl is army controlled university its ordinance has lapsed
This author needs serious help. What atrocious sentence structure and verbiage!! It was a chore to read through the whole article. ET has it come to this - as a premier newspaper of our country, should you not be having higher editorial standards? Isn't it ironical that a report about an educational institution, is in itself a stark indication of sub-par grasp of the English language?
The HOD of Economics has been a victim herself. When she was a lecturer she found out that her HOD had leaked the question paper of the exam next day to one of Brigadier's son - a student of economics. Professional teacher as she is, she changed the paper. As a result she has not been promoted whereas her juniors have been promoted twice in this period. A french teacher was forced to give private tuition to some general's daughter who was seeking admission in canada. Her pickup-drop was by university van and university paid her tuition fee. Not only that, later, as the student was duffer, the teacher had to impersonate for an oral test for admission abroad. NUML is replete with such stories. Can we keep khakis away from education? what do they know about it? Can an experienced retired teacher be re-appointed as a brigadier?