Islamabad:For the second week in a row, universities across Pakistan Tuesday observed Black Day on the call of Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (FAPUASA).
The back-to-back protests signaled a deepening crisis in the higher education sector and growing anger among the academic community over the government’s continued indifference, said a FAPUASA statement.
Faculty of public sector universities from every nook and corner of the country stood united, wearing black ribbons, carrying placards, raising slogans in protest gatherings to once again demand urgent action on the unresolved issues raised last week; restoration of the 25% tax rebate for teachers, repeal of laws attacking university autonomy, reversal of amendments to the Sindh Universities Act, emergency financial support for public universities and immediate salary revision under the Tenure Track System (TTS).
“The protesters lambasted the government for targeting teachers and researchers by abolishing 25 percent tax rebate, the only meaningful fiscal relief for the academic community, while simultaneously granting tax exemptions to multiple profit-making enterprises in the current federal budget, it said.
This, they declared, was not only discriminatory but also an insult to those working at the frontlines of Pakistan’s knowledge economy. Speakers denounced the Punjab Universities and Institutes Act 2025 and recent amendments to the Sindh Universities Act branding them as “direct assaults on the independence of universities and blatant attempts to impose political and bureaucratic control over academia.”
FAPUASA leaders warned that the financial collapse of public universities is now imminent due to chronic underfunding by the Higher Education Commission. In many institutions, salary payments became uncertain. Faculty members are demoralised with BPS teachers left without a promotion pathway and TTS salaries frozen since 2021, a situation described by protestors as “deliberate suffocation” of higher education.
The association issued a clear warning that if the government continues to ignore these legitimate demands, FAPUASA will escalate its protest movement into a full-scale national campaign, which may include strikes, campus shutdowns and coordinated action across all public sector universities.