University staff warns: Release funds or face strike

All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations set June 30 as deadline for federal government to release funds

ISLAMABAD:

General body of Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (FAPUASA) on Thursday set June 30 as deadline for the federal government to release funds worth Rs6 billion for Higher Education Commission (HEC). They threatened to launch agitation across the country if the government failed to fulfill their demand.

The meeting was held in the capital with FAPUASA President Prof Kaleemullah Bareach in the chair. It was attended by representative faculty from all the 74 public sector universities.

The participants said that the government should disburse the funds, of their respective allocation from HEC, directly to universities. HEC is a  white elephant and should only be given enough budget to run its offices across the country, said a teacher at the meeting.

The teachers said that the faculty of all the universities will launch a protest movement from July 3, if the government fails to release the funds and restore teachers in Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Nawabshah. They stated that they will start protest at universities and in front of press clubs.

The protests will be launched from Punjab on July 3, moving to Sindh on July  4,  in KPK on July  5, in Islamabad on July 9 and on July 10 in Balochistan and Kashmir. “If the issue was not resolved within the given time, academia, faculty and university employees will leave their work and boycott the classes,” said Kaleemullah.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2012.