Police may not arrest Isra varsity VC

The Sindh High Court has barred the police from taking action against the disputed vice chancellor, pro-vice chancellor and a former VC of Isra University Hyderabad.

The three leading educationists besides others are nominated in an FIR registered in Dadu district and containing charges of criminal intimidation, rioting and fraud.

SHC Hyderabad Circuit Bench has put the respondents on notice from July 19 and directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to unblock the computerized national identity cards of the petitioners.

The counsel of the petitioners Prof Dr Umar Kazi, Prof Dr Ahmed Waliullah Kazi and Prof Dr Hameedullah Kazi apprised the court that the Kazi family, which is the university's founder, has been locked in a dispute with Prof Dr Nazir Ashraf Laghari over administrative control of the varsity. Laghari also claims to be the VC of Isra and holds the administrative control as well.

Meanwhile, the Kazis control Karachi and Islamabad campuses.

The dispute started in 2020 and so far around a dozen suits have been filed in different courts of law by the two sides since 2020. The lawyer argued that the new FIR, lodged at PS B-Section in Dadu district on complaint of Ghulam Sarwar Mahar on April 28, 2022, was yet another attempt to drag the Kazi family in criminal cases.

He also apprised the court that the scrutiny memo of May 14, authored and signed by the Assistant District Public Prosecutor of Dadu stated that the police themselves want to declare that FIR as 'C' class because two witnesses are not supporting the allegations. However, the concerned civil judge and judicial magistrate disregarded the police report and issued bailable arrest warrants of Kazis in June, 2022.

The same judge ordered NADRA to block CNICs of the Kazis on April 13. The FIR's complainant claims of selling a plot in Hyderabad to Dr Umar Kazi at the price of Rs5 million. Mahar alleged that the accused paid him only Rs500,000 and defaulted on the remaining payment while all the time he was given threats not to ask for money.

The petitioner's lawyer told the court that his clients do not know Mahar, who belonged to Pano Aqil, Sukkur. "The impugned order of the judicial magistrate is suspended with further observation that the petitioners should not be arrested," the SHC ordered. The court directed NADRA to unblock their NICs and submit a report at the next date of hearing.

In the ongoing tug of war to wrest the administrative control of Isra University, both sides have dealt with litigation and the police cases. In one FIR containing charges of issuance of a fake degree, Prof Dr Hameedullah was arrested from his residence in Muslim Society, Hyderabad, on August 6, 2022. He blamed the police for subjecting him to mental torture and humiliation.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2023.