2 Sindh University teachers fired for protesting against VC

Protests due to the murder of a professor on January 2, teachers fired to serve a lesson.

KARACHI: Two faculty members at Sindh University, who were protesting against the vice chancellor, were sacked and seven others were served show-cause notices after a syndicate meeting chaired by the education minister Tuesday night.

Their protests were precipitated by the murder of a professor on January 2 and they were widely backed by teachers across the province. Classes were boycotted for nearly a month.

“These two faculty members, Dr Arfana Mallah and Dr Azhar Ali Shah, were the root cause of disorder in the university,” said minister Pir Mazharul Haq, adding that this was a warning for other teachers to stop disrupting the academic environment.

“For more than a month, this so-called teachers association has been destroying the academic environment of the university and not letting the students study.”

At Governor House, Haq chaired the syndicate meeting in the absence of Governor Ishratul Ebad Khan, who is the chancellor of all public sector universities. He was, however, accompanied by SU VC Dr Nazir Ahmed Mughal and Education Secretary Siddique Memon.

The teachers who were served with show-cause notices to explain their positions were Amar Sindhu, Asghar Burfat, Rabia Memon, Ayaz Kerio, Badar Soomro and Ishaq Samejo.

The sacked Dr Shah and Dr Mallah are the president and general secretary of the Sindh University Teachers Association which had started to lead protests against VC Mughal. While there had been murders on campus before, it was when a teacher, the director of student affairs, Professor Bashir Ahmed Chanur, was gunned down that it was the last straw.

While talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Mallah said that the syndicate meeting was illegal. “[Pir Mazharul Haq] has no right to chair the meeting, therefore the decisions taken are illegal,” she said. “We’ll challenge this meeting and its decisions in the Sindh High Court.”

She said that this was the second time that SU VC Nazir Ahmed Mughal had called two meetings off campus. “Mughal had to call the syndicate meeting at the varsity and not at Governor House. How can Pir Mazhar hold a press conference when he has no right to interfere in university affairs? He has also used pressure tactics but the SUTA is not afraid,” Mallah added.

The president of the Karachi University Teachers’ Society, Dr Mutahir Ahmed, described it as a “tactless decision” that would only aggravate the situation. “The government should have addressed the genuine reservations of faculty members,” said Dr Ahmed. “This is all going in a very wrong direction.”