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Director sells five trucks of KU journals
Karachi, Jan 26, 2008: The decision of the director of the Abdul Qadeer Khan
Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Dr Qasim Mehdi, to sell
certain books, journals and periodicals donated by some British libraries has
evoked an outcry from the staff of the Karachi University, with which the
institute is associated.
Reportedly, Dr Mehdi sold the reading material
piled on five trucks two days ago to a pawn hawker (kabaria) for Rs7.5 a
kilo.
The president of the Karachi University Teachers' Society (Kuts)
expressed his concern over the matter while KUTS secretary Prof Dr Abid Hasnain
said that "the vice-chancellor called the director of the institute to
clarify his position. The director said that the journals were nothing but a
useless heap of paper that occupied a lot of space. He claimed that the material
was nothing but heaps of waste that had been spoilt by rainwater that had seeped
into the underground room where they were being stored." However, Dr Hasnain
pointed out, the director had no right whatsoever to sell university property
and to extract money out of such sales.
KUTS office-bearers maintained
that by the time they learnt about the incident, five trucks loaded with
journals and research papers etc had already left the premises. The
vice-chancellor of the university was informed about the situation by KUTS
office-bearers, who also lodged complaints about Dr Mehdi's "insulting attitude"
towards his teaching and non-teaching staff. Despite a number of attempts made, Dr Mehdi was not available for comments. Dawn
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