ICU teacher’s murder creates unrest & fear among academic circles

PESHAWAR: The merciless killing of an English language teacher of the historic Islamia College University by a watchman of the same institution caused unrest, anger and fear among academic circles prompting the university administration to close the university for five days in the name of ‘spring recess’.

Basheer Mohammad was a 40-years-old teacher at the institution.

Father of two minor sons, he was the lone bread winner of his extended family. His elderly father and lone brother would live with him on the campus. He belonged to Tordher village in Takht Bhai tehsil of Mardan district. The alleged murderer Sher Mohammad belonged to Sarband village. Already retired from the security forces, he had been reemployed in the university. He was infamous for his offensive attitude.

The two had already experienced an exchange of hot words about a month back and the watchman had reportedly been seen aiming his official rifle - AK-47 - at him. However, the matter was resolved amicably then.

The watchman had been transferred from Islamia College to Islamia Collegiate School - both located at the same premises. Perhaps he was not happy with the transfer. On Sunday morning, Basheer was having a leisure walk on the lush green lawns surrounded by the century-old big trees in the historic institution as per his routine. He was having an air-gun, which he used to carry on day-off to hunt birds.

During the walk, he came across with the watchman and the two scuffled again with the latter allegedly grabbing his official gun and starting firing at the teacher, killing him on the spot. The watchman fled the scene after committing the crime.

The police report said that the cops reached the spot soon after the occurrence and dispatched the body of the deceased for an autopsy.

The report read that they recovered several empty shells of Kalashnikov and four empty shells and two bullets loaded in a pistol from the spot.

The report said that police were conducting raids to arrest the accused who remained at large till the filing of this report.

Vice-Chancellor of the University Dr Gul Majeed Khan and Registrar Dr Mansoor Jalal could not be reached for the official version about the incident. They did not respond to the repeated calls from this reporter.

Both read the WhatsApp message dropped on their personal numbers but they avoided replying to it either.

The teaching staff association (TSA) of the university expressed anguish and concern over the incident and urgeda fair investigation and early punishment to the perpetrator.

President of TSA, Dr Izhar Ahmad, said that the cold-blood murder of a teacher at the hands of the watchman of the university has raised serious questions over the role of the university administration and the security staff.

The entire security staff of the university should be interrogated as the incident has intensified the sense of security among the students and faculty of the institution.

He said that the faculty members of the institution would wear black ribbons on their arms after the reopening of the university for three days to mourn the killing of their colleague. Dr Izhar said that they would draw the next line of action after the burial of the deceased.

The students’ representatives condemned the university administration for its failure to protect the lives of the faculty members.

Asfandyar Rabbani, president, Islami Jamiat Talaba rejected the “spring vacations” notified by the university administration and urged the students to come to the university today.

He said that the university should have announced mourning over the tragedy. “Spring vacations give the impression of happiness. It shows the university administration’s involvement in the incident,” he alleged.

Islamia College is regarded as the most prestigious institution of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Besides its great name, it has made exemplary contributions to the promotion of education and sports in the province. The Sunday’s tragedy has certainly shocked all and sundry.

Serious allegations are leveled against the university administration.

Some reports suggested that the university administration allegedly supports the infamous characters for vested interest. This watchman who allegedly killed the teacher was among such elements.