Government College: CM orders inquiry into Deedar dance

Officials to look at vice chancellor and registrar’s role.

LAHORE:
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday directed the Higher Education Department (HED) to conduct an inquiry into how a stage actress ended up performing at Government College University, one of the city’s most prestigious educational institutions, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The scope of the inquiry will include the role of Vice Chancellor Dr Khalid Aftab and acting Registrar Sahibzada Faisal Khurshid as well as other officials in inviting Deedar to perform at a fundraiser last Tuesday night, said sources in the HED. They added that the chief minister’s directions did not mention Education Minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, who attended GCU’s Bonfire Night and watched the dance.

HED officials said they were in a fix as to who to appoint to head the inquiry, since it might make a negative finding against Rehman, a close ally of the chief minister. The inquiry is to begin on Monday.


Deedar danced for some two hours at the GCU Bonfire Night Senior. GCU faculty members told The Express Tribune that the Welfare Society had hired Deedar to perform at the Amphitheatre and had invited the minister as well to act as a kind of shield against censure.

They said that the GCU registrar, who hardly ever attended such events, had attended and sat next to Rehman, because he wanted the minister to approve a summary for his extension as registrar for a second term. They said that Khurshid repeatedly asked the event organiser, and Deedar directly, to dance to Sheela ki jawani and Munni badnam hui darling tere liye.

The sources said that a private TV channel had offered the GCU a lot of money to allow it to record the programme for broadcast on Valentine’s Day.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23rd,  2011.
Load Next Story