Islamia College University VC kidnap case
VC asks govt to accept captors' demands
Peshawar, Nov 08: A video footage of the kidnapped Vice-Chancellor of
Islamia College University, Prof Ajaml Khan, surfaced here on Sunday,
with him appealing to the government to accept the demands of his
captors by Nov 20. "The government should accept mujahideen's
demands, which are of trivial nature, by Nov 20, failing which I may
lose my life the following day," he said. Prof Khan was kidnapped on Sept 7 when he was going to his office from his residence.
In his first video released last month he had requested the provincial
government and leaders of the Awami National Party to get him released. The fresh video, released to some private television channels, Prof
Khan who has grown a beard, calls upon teachers and students of the
university and sincere workers of the ANP to call upon the government
for acceptance of his captors' demands. Prof Khan, who is
related to ANP Chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, said he had been in custody
all this time and he had earlier requested the government through a
video to accept his captors' demands, but his request fell on deaf ears.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain
said he neither knew who had released the video nor any group had put
forward any demand to the government. In a handout issued here,
the minister said that Prof Khan was respected by the government and
all possible efforts would be made to get him released. "For the sake of humanity we have always strived to get every kidnapped person released and will continue to do so," he said.
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Teachers go on strike against VC's non-recovery
Peshawar: The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic
Staff Association (FAPUASA) on Sunday night announced indefinite strike
in the universities across the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa against the
non-recovery of Islamia College University Vice-Chancellor Ajmal Khan
and his driver. The decision was taken after an emergency
meeting of the association convened after the surfacing of a video
footage of Ajmal Khan, wherein he requested the teachers and students to
influence the govern-ment for acceptance of the demands of his captors.
The meeting chaired by the provincial chief of FAPUASA, Dr
Fida Muhammad, discussed the situation emerging after the airing of the
said video footage, as the kidnappers had set a deadline of Nov 20 for
the acceptance of their demands. After the meeting, Dr Fida told media
persons that their strike would continue across the province in all the
universities. He added that if the government failed to accept
their demand and take any step for the recovery of Ajmal Khan, the
federation would extend the strike to other universities in the country. Dawn
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Public universities shut in KP over govt's inaction
Peshawar: The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff
Association (FAPUASA) Pakhtunkhwa chapter on Sunday announced to shut
down all the public sector universities in the province for an
indefinite period to protest the government's failure to recover Ajmal
Khan, vice-chancellor of Islamia College University. The decision
was taken in a meeting of the association, which was held after the
release of the second video of the kidnapped vice-chancellor. "No
classes will be held till the safe recovery of Ajmal Khan and his
driver," said Dr Fida Mohammad, provincial president of FAPUASA. He said the representatives of teachers
associations of all the public sector universities attended the meeting,
which expressed deep concern over the inefficiency of government. Ajmal
Khan along with his driver was kidnapped on September 7 when he was on
his way to office. The militants released a second video of Ajmal Khan
on Sunday. In the video he appealed to his community, students, workers
and leaders of ANP to make efforts for his early release. He also called
for negotiations with militants and accepting their demands before the
deadline of November 20. Dr Fida said the government had failed to
recover the kidnapped vice-chancellor and after the release of the video
they were left with no other option but to close all the public sector
universities for an indefinite period. The news
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Harassment of girl students: another probe ordered
Haripur: The syndicate of Hazara University (HU) has recommended
another inquiry into the complaints of some girl students of the
university's Haripur campus against alleged harassment by a teacher,
sources told this correspondent on Saturday. The HU registrar
had suspended the lecturer, Adil Paracha of Management Sciences
department, vide letter F./No 4(2)-HU/Reg/2010/165 dated Sept 9, 2010
after receiving complaints of some girl students of Haripur campus
against him. In their written statements, the complainant
students from second and third semesters of the Management Sciences
department had accused the lecturer of harassing and insulting them on
one or the other pretext. The registrar office also barred the lecturer
from entering the premises of Haripur campus and ordered probe into the
complaints through an inquiry committee, headed by Dr Mukhtar, director
research and planning of Hazara University. The sources said
that the committee had completed its probe after hearing all sides,
including the teacher, and forwarded its recommendations to the
vice-chancellor. The matter was referred to the HU syndicate and its
members at a meeting chaired by VC Dr Sakhawat Hussain recommended
re-investigation of the case before any disciplinary action was taken
against the teacher. When contacted, Dr Sakhawat Shah said that
action had already been taken, as the lecturer had been suspended. He
said that the matter had to be discussed at the syndicate's meeting
which had recommended re-inquiry into the complaints. He said that the
second inquiry would be completed within a month.
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Upgraded college in Swabi without teachers
Swabi: The newly-upgraded Zaida Degree College is still without
staff putting future of over three hundred students at risk. The government and directorate of colleges have kept mum over the non-provision of teachers. The upgradation notification of Zaida higher secondary school was issued by the directorate of colleges on July 1, this year. About 300 students have so far got admission to the degree college.
The ruling Awami National Party MPA Sikandar Irfan had taken credit for
the upgradation of the college. But, he failed to take another credit
for employing teachers for the college. It has been learnt that
there were about nine subject specialists in the higher secondary
school but after the upgradation they had to be transferred. Under the
rules the subject specialists could not be allowed to get posts at the
college level, sources said. The students told this
correspondent that the government and politicians were responsible for
the entire mess. They said that if the government could not provide
staff to the college whey it had upgraded the higher secondary school to
the college level. The students said two days back they
blocked Topi-Zaida road for all kind of traffic and gave a week deadline
to the government. They said that if the government failed to provide
staff they would hold more protest demonstrations. The students
said that other colleges in the periphery had already covered their
courses and they had yet to start the classes. Meanwhile, it
has been learnt that after the protest of the students ANP MPA Sikandar
has swung into action and is striving to make available the required
staff to the college. Dawn
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Sadda college has four lecturers for 800 students
Sadda: With 800 tribal students on roll, 22 posts of lecturers are still
vacant in the Government Degree College for Boys in Sadda, Kurram
Agency, where only four teachers are currently available and the college
has virtually been closed for the last two years. The students said they were coming to the college
daily from far-flung areas spending the hard-earned money of their
parents, but still there were no teachers to teach them various
subjects. They said that due to lack of teachers the college was closed
and the future of more than 800 students was at stake. Earlier,
there were some lecturers on contract basis. When their contracts
expired, the government, however, did not bother to re-employee them or
arrange for other teachers, the students complained. They said they were
disappointed to observe the step-motherly treatment being meted out to
the Fata students by the incumbent government. Situation of the Girls
College in the area was the same as the concerned parents of the
students said there was no faculty in the Government Girls Degree
College, Sadda, to teach the students. They said the government, the
political administration and the Fata Secretariat were aware of all
these issues faced by the tribal people, yet little effort was made to
tackle the problems. The parents said on several occasions, the
students and their parents registered complaints with the relevant
authorities but it had never been the priority of the government to
educate the masses in rural Pakistan, particularly Fata. They said the
future of their children seemed bleak because of the government's apathy
in lower and central tehsils of the agency. The parents asked the
governor, federal education minister, director education at Fata
Secretariat and the political administration to arrange teachers for
both the colleges to save the future of their children. The news
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