Ransomed education

Abducting a man who has dedicated his life to teaching, shows the disregard for basic norms of humanity.

The vice chancellor of the Islamia University Peshawar, Professor Ajmal Khan, has been held by the Taliban for over two months. In a second video released by the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), he has read out a message, stating he will be killed by November 20 if the militant group’s demands are not met. In response, vice chancellors and teachers have agreed to keep universities across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa closed and students have been staging protests across the province.

It is unclear precisely what the TTP is demanding. The provincial government says it has received no communication from them and in the two videos put out, no details have been provided of what they seek. It is, however, safe to guess that demands include the release of militants in detention. Similar tactics have been used before. These pose a huge dilemma for authorities — giving in could encourage the TTP to resort to more such actions. Ignoring them could result in the death of a highly respected educationist. As it is, education at universities is suffering as classes remain suspended.

The kidnapping once more exposes the nature of the TTP and the degree of its ruthlessness. Abducting a man who has no role to play in policy making or governance and has dedicated his life to teaching, shows the disregard for basic norms of humanity. It would be a terrible tragedy were he to be killed. A strategy needs to be devised to determine how best to proceed. We expect our intelligence agencies to have a good idea of who the persons behind the abduction are and where Professor Ajmal is being held. They have, after all, for many years now been assigned to keep track of the TTP. Whatever method is used, the authorities must make an attempt to rescue a man who does not deserve to be undergoing the ordeal of the kind he has been suffering since September 7.

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