University unrest: CUI suspends professor for organising protest

Administration says some faculty members took out an illegal protest march

ISLAMABAD: Comsats University Islamabad (CUI) has suspended head of Academic Staff Council Dr Mehnaz Haseeb for allegedly holding an illegal protest, the university administration said in a statement on Monday.

Since the upgrading of Comsats Institute of Information Technology to Comsats University Islamabad (CUI) in April 2018 after approval of National Assembly and the Senate, a disgruntled group of university faculty members, having a vested agenda, have allegedly organised themselves as an Academic Staff Council (ASC), an illegal body having no statutory support in the Comsats University Act 2018, the statement said.

“This group of disgruntled faculty members on Monday staged a meeting on campus and organised a protest walk on campus premises under the banner of the ASC, inciting other faculty members to join the banned outfit and disturb the university’s discipline,” the statement read.

The university administration taking strict notice of this unauthorised assembly and other illegal actions by the illegal council, aimed at disrupting the university’s productive environment, has suspended the supposed head of the organisation Dr Mehnaz Haseeb, for being unable to explain the reasons for this incitement. Furthermore, the university also issued letters to officials found involved in promoting the illegal body on the campus premises to explain their position.

The CUI’s Registrar Dr Fahim A Qureshi on behalf of the university, said that CUI is in a transition phase which includes framing of new rules, statutes and regulations that are being framed under prescribed rules as per the CUI Act. He said members of the ASC are keeping the institution devoid of an elected body of university representatives in various statutory bodies under the CUI Act.

The university Rector Prof Dr Raheel Qamar said that disturbance of academic and research activities will not be tolerated under any circumstances. The rector further stated that he is always open for discussion and finding solutions to problems and that his door is always open for fellow faculty members. 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2018.