Qau land lease issue: Majority of faculty opposes proposal

ISLAMABAD: A vast majority of faculty members of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad has opposed a proposal for allocation of varsity land to the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) on lease. A referendum was carried out by the QAU Academic Staff Association with a participation of 177 faculty members. Of the 177 faculty members, 147 opposed the move while 29 supported re-allocation of the QAU land to the PIDE. QAU Prof Dr Zafar Jaspal said that the vice-chancellor and the PIDE should respect the majority opinion. QAU Vice-Chancellor Dr Javaid Ashraf, however, refused to comment on the issue. The QAU Alumni Association in a referendum has already rejected the transfer of land to the PIDE. In the alumni referendum, of the 2,924 old students, only 113 supported the lease proposal while 2,811 opposed it.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2016.