Body formed to probe IUB ‘scandal’

The scandal involves allegations of sexual exploitation, drug peddling by university staff

MULTAN:

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) constituted a fact finding committee to conduct a thorough and impartial inquiry into allegations of harassment, exploitation and victimisation of girl students and the involvement of management in patronising immoral activities and drugs in Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB).

Official sources said Pro Vice Chancellor Bahauddin Zakariya University Dr Muhammad Ali was appointed Head of the Committee, while Rector National University of Technology Islamabad Lt Gen Retd Moazzam Ejaz, Pro Vice Chancellor Nur International University Lahore Dr Najma Najam, Rector Imperial College of Business Studies Lahore Prof Tahira Aziz Mughal and Advisor P&D, Finance HEC Dr Mazhar Saeed were appointed members of the Committee.

The committee has been tasked to conduct an inquiry and evaluate the implementation of HEC policies on protection against sexual harassment in higher education institutions.

The committee is additionally expected to propose corrective and disciplinary actions, suggest recommendations and preventative measures.

They will submit a report on their findings within 21 working days.

This development comes after Vice Chancellor IUB Dr Athar Mehboob wrote a letter to Punjab IGP Dr Usman Anwar earlier this week, requesting the latter to form an inquiry team to probe the drug scandal.

During the past week, police arrested IUB Chief Security Officer Ijaz Shah and reportedly seized ice (crystal meth), aphrodisiacs and objectionable videos of university officials and students from his two mobile phones.

Moreover, police arrested the university’s transport in charge Altaf on Saturday and eight grams of ice were recovered from his possession.

Meanwhile, some new aspects have emerged during the investigation into the drug scandal at IUB.

According to sources, police claimed in a special report that “a group of teachers of the university is involved in drug peddling as well as sexual exploitation of students and teachers”.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2023.