Professor’s killing: Lecturers throw in their support for Sindh University’s faculty

A protest will be launched from January 11 if probe demands go unmet.

HYDERABAD: The lecturers and teachers at Sindh University have warned that they will start a protest from January 11 if the government doesn’t investigate a professor’s murder and security arrangements aren’t changed on campus.

A general body meeting after Prof. Bashir Ahmed Chanur’s murder on Monday was attended by over 400 teachers. They have demanded a judicial commission by the Sindh government into the killing, the resignation of the vice chancellor, Nazir Mughal, a ban on the student wings of parties on campus and the revival of student unions.

They also say that the presence of Rangers and police at university campuses is actually making the law and order situation worse and these forces should be replaced by private security guards.

“We will protest and agitate through a relentless movement once the deadline lapses,” said Dr Azhar Shah, who leads the staff via the Sindh University Teacher’s Association. They plan to open it from Allama II Qazi Sqaure.

This association was quickly backed by other public university groups but they have taken this opportunity to push their own agendas. For example, Prof. Ehsan Ali Memon, who heads the Mehran University Teachers Association, brought up the criteria for the appointment of a vice chancellor, including the age limit of 65 years, which he said was being “blatantly violated”. According to him nine out of the 12 vice chancellors of public sector universities in Sindh were older than 65 years.

“Even the vice chancellor of Mehran University is over 65,” said Memon. “We recognise all of his contributions to the university but we follow him to follow the rules.”

There was an objection to rehiring of retired employees from Prof. Naimatullah Laghari, who is the president of the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association in Sindh.

“The vice chancellors’ search committee is nothing more than a farce. The shots are always called from Governor House,” said Laghari. “Their [vice chancellors] dependence on the governor makes them subservient to them rather than allowing them to do their jobs honestly.”

He went on to criticise the reappointment of Karachi University’s vice chancellor, Prof. Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui. “The authority of higher education should also be transferred to the chief minister from the governor in the light of the 18th constitutional amendment,” he added.

Murder investigations

Meanwhile, a case has yet to be registered for Prof. Bashir Ahmed Chanur’s murder, something that the disgruntled teachers have duly noted. They blame the administration. The association’s Prof. Arafana Mallah explained that the university was responsible for registering the FIR since the professor was killed on campus.

For his part, however, the vice chancellor has formed an eight-member committee, supervised by Dr Parveen Shah, to conduct an inquiry into the killing. Its report is due in 10 days.

The committee includes two outsiders, Taj Dayo, an authority on the Sindhi language, and Jami Chandio, a member of a non-governmental organisation. The other six members are from the university faculty. But the teachers have so far rejected the formation of the committee and demanded an independent investigation by a judicial commission.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2012.