Ex-Punjab University VC laid to rest

Dr Rasa completed his Doctorate in Philosophy from Brown University, US

LAHORE: The funeral prayer of former Punjab University (PU) vice chancellor (VC) Khairat Ibne Rasa was held on Sunday at the university’s Jamia Mosque where a large number of the varsity’s students and faculty members attended his funeral prayer.

The former VC died on Saturday at the age of 93. He was born in Bhaderwah (Jammu and Kashmir) in 1926 and was the son of renowned poet Rasa Javedani. He received his early education at Jammu after which he completed his master’s degree in chemistry from Aligarh Muslim University.

After the partition of India, the former VC’s family moved to Pakistan and in 1959 he completed his Doctorate in Philosophy from Brown University, US. He was appointed as the first VC of Multan University (now Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan). Before he joined PU he also served as VC at Al-Khair University.

He was awarded with Sitara-e-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan due to his services in the field of education.

His tenure as VC during the period from 1976 to 1984 was marked by union politics in which students participated actively in the PU.

A PU faculty member told The Express Tribune that the name of Khairat Ibne Rasa will be remembered forever as he made a lot of efforts for the development of the varsity. “ He never cared about any sort of political pressure and took good initiatives to set examples that will be remembered in the history of the PU,” said former PU Law College principal Sami Uzair.

PU Mountain Research Department Director Dr Munawer Sabir said, “The tenure of Dr Rasa was a golden period as a number of academic programmes were introduced during that period.

PU VC Dr Niaz Ahmad Akhtar said, “Dr Rasa was a big name in the field of organic chemistry and his death is a big loss to the education sector.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 08^th, 2019.