The embattled Sindh University teachers have filed a petition in the Sindh High Court seeking protection for their jobs and lives.
The five petitioners, including Dr Azhar Ali Shah, Dr Arfana Mallah and Dr Rabia Memon, cited fears of removal from service and threat to their lives. Advocate KB Laghari informed the bench of Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Riazat Ali Sahar that the university administration had registered an FIR in the Jamshoro police station against these teachers for ‘creating violence’. The teachers were also given show-cause notices as part of the termination process, he added.
“They have been facing these threats because they started a movement in the wake of Prof. Bashir Channar’s murder and demanded removal of the vice chancellor, Dr Nazir A Mughal.” Laghari also told the court that there was an attack on Mallah, Memon and Amar Sindhu while they were in Karachi last month. Sindhu was reportedly injured.
The bench issued notices to the respondents, Mughal and Registrar Muhammad Nawaz Narejo, and barred the university from taking any administrative action against the petitioners. The respondents have been ordered to submit a reply on October 2.
In a related petition challenging the legality of Mughal’s appointment as vice chancellor, the bench asked the respondents to submit response on September 17. The petitioner, Mola Bux Sehto, maintained that the former VC Mazharul Siddiqui was removed before completion of his term. According to him, there were no advertisements for the post of the VC and also, the Governor’s Selection Committee did not vet Mughal.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 8th, 2012.
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