Bahria University students cry for ‘freedom of expression’

Demonstration held against termination of a lecturer who ‘spoke out’.

ISLAMABAD:

Students of Bahria University on Wednesday staged a protest outside the institute’s main campus against termination of a faculty member, Qamar Riaz. The lecturer was terminated last month allegedly for speaking against the university’s policies in the presence of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairperson Dr Javed Laghari.

Holding banners and placards, the students chanted slogans against the university’s “doctoral policies”. “The rector [Vice Admiral Muhammad Haroon] runs the institute like an army office, leaving no room for intellectual and broad thinking as far as policies are concerned,” said a protesting student. “A university cannot restrict freedom of expression,” he added.

The students at the protest said that the university charges huge amount of fees from the students but deprives them of qualified faculty through different tactics. “We are paying over Rs50,000 per semester and should be provided competent teachers. Termination of teachers like Qamar Riaz is a loss for students,” said another student on condition of anonymity.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Riaz, the sacked lecturer, said the administration took action against him for questioning “wrong policies of the university”. He said backdoor dialogues are underway to withdraw his termination order, but the university must “tender a public apology for thrashing and humiliating him in public for merely asking a question”. “To me, principles are more important than a job,” he said.

Riaz said he enjoys support of all teachers and students of Bahria University through facebook and other media sources. However, they are scared to support him openly as they feel “threatened by the university administration,” he added.

When contacted, Chief Operating Officer of Bahria University Islamabad Junaid Kiani contradicted Riaz’s claims and said he was expelled for breaching his contract with the university. He said during a seminar held at the university on March 31, Riaz asked an irrelevant question from the HEC chairperson and kept relentlessly demanding an answer. Kiani said there is no support for Riaz by students and teachers of the university. He gathers a handful of outsiders to create an artificial strength, he said. When asked if the university will rehire the teacher, he replied, “Once you spit, you cannot take it back.”

About termination of the head of the management sciences department, Dr Shafqat Hameed Rana, Kiani said there is no connection between the two cases. He said Rana left because his contract with the university had expired. He said the link was concocted because the head of department had sympathised with the sacked teacher.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 21^st, 2011.