GCU’s Ashfaq Ahmad Chair vacant for 4 years

Two candidates have died, remaining contender is ‘disliked by GCU registrar’

LAHORE: The Urdu Department chair named after writer Ashfaq Ahmad at Government College University (GCU) has been vacant for the last four years, despite repeated advertisements and the availability of an apparently suitable applicant.

GCU officials told The Express Tribune that when the post was created and first advertised in 2006, the university received three applications: from Professor Sohail Ahmad Khan, Professor Anees Nagi and Professor Saadat Saeed. The first two have passed away, leaving Prof Saeed as the only eligible candidate, they said.

The officials said, however, that Prof Saeed was not being appointed because he was not in the good books of GCU Registrar Sahibzada Faisal Khursheed.

They said the registrar feared him because he was a strong personality who would not “bow down” to the university administration.

The registrar denied this, saying he had nothing to do with the appointment, which would be made by a separate committee.

According to the criteria for the post, the applicant must be a PhD with 23 years of experience, including at least 12 years after receiving her doctorate, and 15 research papers published in journals recognised by the Higher Education Commission.

The GCU officials said that Prof Khan and Prof Saeed met these criteria, though Prof Nagi did not. Prof Saeed was the only one of the three still alive, they said, and had strong qualifications.

Prof Saeed was appointed assistant professor at GCU in 1987. In 1999, he was ranked top by the Punjab Public Service Commission for the post of professor.

He then worked at the Pakistan chair in a Turkish university for five years before returning to Pakistan in 2005 and being appointed professor in GCU’s Urdu department.

Prof Khan was chairman of the GCU’s Urdu department and Dean of the Arts when the post was first advertised in 2006. Prof Nagi, a civil servant, served as visiting faculty at GCU.

The same three candidates applied for the post when it was advertised again in 2008. Again, no one was selected for interview.

Prof Khan passed away in 2009 and Prof Nagi in 2010. GCU advertised for the Ashfaq Ahmad Chair, as well as the vacant Dr Mehboobul Haq Chair in Economics and Dr Sultan Ahmad Chair in Biological Science, three months ago.

The GCU officials said that Prof Saeed was the only senior applicant for the Ashfaq Ahmad Chair. The university has two other chairs, the Dr Rafi M Chaudhry Chair in Physics and Prof Abdus Salam Chair in Physics, both of which are occupied.

The GCU registrar said that the university’s syndicate has established a search committee which interviewed applicants. The registrar has no role in this process, he said. The Ashfaq Ahmad Chair was empty simply because there was no suitable candidate, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2010.