Karachi university plagiarist professor accuse

KU Plagiarist professor accused of pressurising VC
Karachi, Sep 13: A high ranking official of Karachi University (KU) has expressed his displeasure about the pressure tactics used by several influential religious and political figures to reinstate Prof. Jalaluddin Noori, former Dean of Islamic Studies, who was suspended after allegations of plagiarism against him were proved.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Prof. Noori, in his state of vulnerability, has launched a campaign vilifying a religious sect in the country. This campaign, he said, was being run from the platform of the KU United Sunni Students Alliance. The organisation, the official claimed, was a non-existent one and trumped up to influence investigators and pressurise the university into dropping charges against Prof. Noori.

Prof. Noori is under investigation initiated by former judge of the Sindh High Court, Justice (retd) Hiaziq-ul-Khairi. According to reliable sources, Justice Khairi has already cross-examined various witnesses in the case, and has already rejected the testimony of some witnesses that had appeared to support Prof Noori as unreliable, and hence not fit for their testimony.

The official maintained that it was proved beyond doubt during proceedings of the retired judge that Prof. Noori had plagiarised his thesis and many research articles.

He said that even the material presented as evidence in favour of Prof. Noori was plagiarised. According to him, many letters that were seemingly written by religious institutions in the past were actually back dated and were printed on current letterheads. He said that these letterheads contain seven-digit telephone numbers, but in 1990, when the letters were supposedly issued, phone numbers only contained six digits.

He said that Dr Naseer Ahmed Akhtar, an associate Professor, Dr Rehana Firdous, Dr Shakeel Auj, Prof Ghulam Mehdi and Dr Hissamuddin Mansoori, all professors in the Faculty of Islamic Studies, appeared against Prof. Noori. According to him, Dr Akhtar informed Justice Khairi that he (Dr Akhtar) had even discovered instances of plagiarism in Prof. Noori's research work which he conducted in 1987.

KU Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof. Pirzada Qasim expressed his disgust over the pressure tactics used by Prof Noori, and resolved that the university will not bow down to such nefarious activities. "We will not allow any one to interfere in our affairs. We are determined to keep our integrity and educational standards intact, and for that we will not tolerate academics who do not maintain the sanctity of university," he said firmly.

It may be recalled that Prof Noori had left a trail of deceit, forgery and plagiarism in wake of his rise to the Dean of the Islamic Studies. The charges included: a PhD thesis that was plagiarised from an Arab scholar; submitting fake educational diplomas; and tampering with his age record, which was decreased by six years in his national identity card so as to enable him to serve for some more years in the service.

Other professors accused of plagiarism include the husband-wife couple of Dr Saeed Arain of the Department of Chemistry and Dr Najma Sultana from the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy.

The KU Syndicate in its meeting on August 27, 2005 had asked a committee headed by the then Pro Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Shamsuddin and Faculty of Arts and Science Deans Dr Muhammad Qaisar to conduct an enquiry on the authenticity of Noori's doctoral thesis, in addition to research articles, degrees, diplomas and CNIC.

The committee had cleared Prof. Noori on three charges but ignored the first and perhaps most critical charge – plagiarism of his thesis. Prof Rizwan Ali Nadvi, an Arabic scholar of repute who teaches in Saudi Arabia, was then appointed by the VC to check the thesis of Prof Noori, who then confirmed that the thesis was plagiarised. This report enabled the KU Syndicate held in 2009 to take a decision against Prof. Noori.

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The secretary of implementation, Mohammed Ayub Shaikh, presented a report about the site for a medical college.

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The health secretary and other officials concerned informed the meeting that the nursing institute and a nursing hostel were included in the 13 components identified for development under the Lyari General Hospital upgrade programme.The meeting decided that the nursing institute should be shifted to the nursing hostel.

The chief secretary directed that after making all preliminary preparations, work on the college should be started on a fast-track basis by Oct 1 and should be completed within two months.

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