Violating merit: AWKUM students demand sacking of VC

Accuse him of favouritism in granting foreign scholarships to faculty, in hiring.

MARDAN: Activists of PTI’s student wing Insaf Students Federation (ISF) protested against the vice chancellor of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan (AWKUM) on Tuesday, accusing him of favouritism and demanding the termination of his services.

Chanting slogans against VC Ihsan Ali, scores of AWKUM students accompanied by a professor of Mardan Postgraduate College gathered at Nowshera-Mardan Road and blocked it for over five hours.

According to the protesters, the VC allegedly violated merit by choosing people he preferred for faculty scholarships in foreign universities even though they were not eligible for the grant.

The student activists further claimed Ali appointed his favourites in the recent recruitment of Class-IV employees for AWKUM.

Sexual harassment

The protesters also said a female student had filed a written complaint to the law department chairperson stating a professor was harassing her, but the administration failed to respond to her complaint or take the professor to task.

The agitated students demanded VC Ali be removed from his position and a transparent enquiry be launched into the scholarship grants, biased appointments and harassment complaint.

ISF leaders Adnan Bacha, Bilal and Owais Afridi addressed the protesters.

Subsequently, PTI MPAs Iftikhar Mashwani and Zahid Durrani intervened and assured the students their demands will be met.

Meanwhile, AWKUM has formed an enquiry committee comprising the MPAs, varsity officials and student representatives to probe the allegations of biased appointments and grants. The VC has also suspended the accused professor and ordered a departmental enquiry against him.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2015.