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KU without Rangers after 19 yrs
KU reopens without Rangers after 19 yrs
Karachi, April 12, 2008: The Pakistan Rangers have
deserted their posts at the University of Karachi (KU) and have taken up at the
hostel, where they have been given residence, in anger over Prof Riaz Ahmed
beating. As a result, KU reopened after a four-day break under the supervision
of the police.
Sindh Rangers Spokesman Captain Fazal Mehsud declined to
comment on the issue when contacted Friday.
Recently, the Rangers got
involved in a scuffle with KU faculty member Dr Riaz. The issue escalated as
teachers went on strike and the academic session was suspended.
In a
high-profile meeting three days back, it was decided that the Sindh Police would
temporarily take charge of KU and SIRZC. Sindh Home
Secretary, Arif Ahmed Khan, said that the Rangers were "angry". The teachers
requested KU pull the Rangers out and therefore charge has been temporarily
given to the police.
The Rangers were initially deployed for a definite
period in July 1989 on the directives of then Sindh governor Fakhruddin G
Ebrahim. The decision came after three activists of the People's Student
Federation (PSF) were shot on campus.
Nearly 5,000 Rangers, including the
wing commanders and a colonel, were deployed at the campus and also covered the
area from the cantonment area to Civic Center. Apart from deployment at all five
university gates, their duties also included patrolling.
On Thursday, the
Crime Investigation Department (CID) recovered weapons outside the campus which
a senior KU official described as an alleged "conspiracy" by the Rangers. The
official said that the university management has been in favor of calling the
Rangers back and has contacted them several times but has received no response
from them yet.
KU Vice Chancellor Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui
acknowledged the claims made by students and the management against the Rangers
but still considered them "the best resolution" and hoped that they will go back
to duty.
When the Rangers were in charge, four students were killed and
several were injured. In 1998, Kashif, an activist of the Punjabi Student
Association was killed during a clash with the Islami Jamiat Taliba. Seven
students were killed in an ambush outside the Silver Jubilee Gate, an area
guarded by the Rangers, in September 2007. Daily Times
KUTS opposes permanent presence of Rangers on campuses
Karachi: The Karachi University Teachers' Society (KUTS) has expressed the
view that there is no need of presence of law-enforcement agencies' personnel at
educational institutions all the time and they could be deployed in case law and
order situation arises at the campuses.
A meeting of KUTS executive
council chaired by Dr Aqeel Ahmed on Friday evening reviewed the security
situation at the University of Karachi which was reopened after a gap of four
days in the aftermath of clash between two student organisations on April 5.
The meeting participants were of the view that the support of
law-enforcement agencies, including Rangers, should be available to the
university administration which could call in the personnel in case of emergency
but there was no need for Rangers to permanently station and set up their
headquarters at the campus.
Secretary KUTS Dr Abid Hasnain said the
meeting was of the view that there should be arrangements between the university
administration and law-enforcement agencies that the deployment of the personnel
could be timely ensured if any law and order situation arises at the campus.
The meeting also reiterated the demands of KUTS general body meeting of
April 1 when the KU faculty members demanded withdrawal of Rangers from all the
educational campuses only after the educational institutions were able to evolve
some alternative security mechanism for colleges and universities. The general
body meeting was held to protest the manhandling of a senior faculty member of
the KU's Applied Chemistry Department by the Rangers personnel.
KMC releases funds to repair buses for KU, NED
The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has released three million rupees out
of its total grant-in-aid of four million rupees, for the repair of 20 buses of
the defunct Karachi Transport Corporation (KTC). The amount will be given to the
University of Karachi (KU) and the NED University. The balance amount will be
released within a few days, the KMC sources said.
It is worth mentioning
that the government had decided to give 37 buses of the defunct KTC to different
universities of the province. Out of the 20 buses, 16 will be given to the KU
and four to the NED for point service. As they required repairs, the Minister
for Local Government, Dr Farooq Sattar had directed the KMC to provide the grant
of four million rupees for the purpose. Provision of the buses will solve the
transport problems of the students to some extent, which they faced due to
closure of the KTC in March last year.
Provincial Parliamentary Secretary
for Transport, Khalid Bin Waleed will head a committee formed to assess the
requirements for the repairs. It also includes Secretary Transport,
representative of the KU and NED varsities, Secretary KTC and Chief Executive
Mechanical, KMC. A tender for the repairs will soon be called and the buses will
become operational in May. A decision was taken by the government to give 37
buses of the defunct KTC to different universities of the province. Seven buses
had already been given to Mehran Engineering University, Jamshoro. The News
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| Education News | | Updated: 09 Feb, 2012 |
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