Campus harassment fears alarm Senate panel

ISLAMABAD:

The Senate Functional Committee on Devolution expressed serious concern over the rise in sexual harassment cases in the country's higher educational institutions.

In its meeting on Wednesday, some committee members referred to the case of Fahmida Laghari, a medical student who allegedly took her own life after being repeatedly harassed by a teacher and called for effective measures to stop such incidents.

The committee chairman, Senator Zamir Hussain Ghumro, noted that Fahmida Laghari, a student at Muhammad Medical College in Mirpurkhas, had not reported the harassment and was driven to an extreme step.

He questioned how unreported harassment cases could be addressed and stressed the need for stronger mechanisms. The committee meeting also reviewed harassment cases at Islamabad's COMSATS University.

The absence of the Higher Education Commission chairman irked the committee, which issued a summons and warned that warrants could be issued if he fails to appear at the next meeting.

Officials informed the committee that 472 harassment cases were reported in universities nationwide, of which 455 have been resolved; 53 faculty members and 19 students were expelled in harassment-related cases

At COMSATS specifically, 20 cases were reported between 2023–2025. Of these 14 complaints were filed by women. These cases included workplace and sexual harassment incidents.

After inquiries, two cases resulted in fines, one individual was expelled, five received warnings, four cases ended with apologies, one complaint was withdrawn and suspects in four cases were absolved due to lack of evidence.

Officials maintained that harassment complaints are handled confidentially and that zero tolerance is enforced. They added that action is taken immediately once a complaint is filed and that mechanisms exist for students to report harassment safely.