Probe by JIT demanded in Isra varsity raids case

Police arrested Hameedullah on August 7 from his residence just three hours after an FIR was registered against him

HYDRABAD:

The chancellor and vice chancellor of Isra University have urged the government to constitute a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the matter of raids at their houses and arrest of one of them.

At a press conference at their residence in Hyderabad on Friday, Chancellor, Prof Dr Hameedullah Kazi and VC Ahmed Waliullah Kazi also called for immediate suspension of the police officers who ordered and conducted the raids.

The Hatri police had arrested Hameedullah on August 7 from his residence just three hours after an FIR was registered against him, and two others for issuing a fake degree.

The complainant Zaid Laghari is the managing director of Isra University and son of disputed VC Dr Nazeer Ashraf Laghari. Both the Kazi and Laghari families have been locked in a conflict since 2020 to get the administrative control of all the three campuses of the university.

The main campus in Hyderabad is currently headed by Laghari while the Kazi's are managing the Karachi and Islamabad campuses.

The FIR stated that the degree of a graduate of Islamabad campus cannot be verified when Laghari checked it in the record of Hyderabad campus. Kazis on their part accused the VC Laghari for illegally occupying the main campus with the help of his gun wielding men and support of the provincial government officers.

"We demand that a JIT should be constituted and it should include the officers of Inter Service Intelligence and Military Intelligence as well to probe the issue," demanded Hameedullah. "Until the inquiry report comes, the police officers involved in the raids at our homes should be suspended."

Kazis claimed that a number of plainclothed men had raided their houses in Muslim Society and harassed their family members.

They added that the raiding police team was not accompanied by the lady police officials which is another violation of the law.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2022.