Dr Tahir Shah selected for Fata varsity’s VC slot

PESHAWAR: After a long wait and many false starts, the proposed Fata University is finally going to have a new vice-chancellor. Dr Mohammad Tahir Shah, a professor at the National Centre of Excellence in Geology at the University of Peshawar, has been selected as the vice-chancellor of the Fata University. He was one of the three shortlisted candidates whose names were sent to Governor KP Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan for selecting one of them for the prestigious job. The names were recommended by the search committee constituted for the purpose.

Dr Tahir Shah is also the director of the National Centre of Excellence in Geology at the University of Peshawar. He belongs to Haripur.

The plan for setting up the Fata University was conceived in 2008, but the project got delayed due to political reasons, lack of resources, dispute on its location and lack of consensus on the appointment of the vice-chancellor.  Former president Asif Ali Zardari had approved the Fata University Regulation in May 2013. The first-ever university for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) was to be set up on 266 kanals of land at Akhurwal in Darra Adamkhel in the Frontier Region Kohat. Akhurwal was seen as one of the less controversial site for the university as it is accessible from almost all the seven tribal agencies and six Frontier Regions.