FAPUASA calls for boycott in all public universities from Monday

Karachi
The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) and Sindh Universities Officers Federation (SUOF) on Thursday announced to observe ‘black day’ on Friday at all 19 government universities of the province and then boycott of all academic activities from next Monday.
This would be the second black day to be observed in public universities against the newspaper advertisements by the government on Jul 16 and 17 for the vacant posts of varsity registrars and controller of examinations.
The first black day was observed on August 5 on the call of FAPUASA. The teachers had worn black armbands while conducting classes and black flags were also hoist in government universities and a similar situation would be witnessed on Friday.
According to the advertisement, the Sindh government wants to take over the
powers of appointing controller of examinations and registrars in all 19 public sector universities, claimed leaders of the FAPUASA and SUOF, the protesting organisations.
“Now classes will only resume after the Sindh government issues a corrigendum of the advertisement,” they declared.
However, till Saturday, the FAPUASA and SUOF had been quite hopeful that the persisting controversy of the published advertisement will dissolve since the government representatives had met leaders of academic fraternity and had expressed their interest in resolving the issue amicably.
But the representatives of FAPUASA and SUOF declared on Thursday that the government had backtracked from its commitment, making it necessary for them to take this “extreme step” to get their reservations registered by the authorities.
In this regard, the representatives of the FAPUASA and SUOF held a press conference at the NED University on Thursday to inform the media about their decision.
The representatives claimed that despite their negotiations with the academic bodies, the chief minister’s secretary for universities and boards, Iqbal Hussain Durrani, had written a letter to him on August 19 to ask for instructions over the issue. The chief minister is yet to reply to the letter.
Dr Ayaz Keerio, the president of Sindh chapter of FAPUASA, said Durrani, in a meeting with the academic associations earlier in the month, had personally assured the representatives that the matter will be resolved with mutual understanding.