College principal and lecturer’s transfer sparks protest in Chitral

CHITRAL: The local elders and parents of students have condemned the sudden transfer of the principal and an assistant professor of physics from the only Boys Degree College in Upper Chitral and termed it as an injustice to the college and its students.

The students of the boys college and girls college staged a protest demonstration and blocked the Chitral-Gilgit Road for five hours against the abrupt transfer of principal and an assistant professor of physics.They ended the protest only after the deputy commissioner of Upper Chitral assured them that their demands would be addressed by September 10.

The protesting students said that the issue started when a Class-IV employee of the college, whose brother is the secretary of the deputy speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Upper Chitral.

The said employee, they added, had been absent from duty for a long time and despite repeated warnings and show-cause notices, he did not improve. Eventually, the administration transferred him to the girls college. However, due to his continued negligence, the girls college principal sent him back.

Finally, the boys college principal suspended him from service. Following this action, the principal and the physics lecturer were suddenly transferred overnight to another district.The locals denounced the transfer as sheer injustice to the students and launched a campaign on social media demanding its cancellation.

They alleged that political influence was involved and had accused Deputy Speaker Suraya Bibi of playing a role.The critics said that while the present government constantly claims to bring reforms in education, it had arbitrarily transferred the principal and an assistant professor on political grounds.

When contacted the principal, he confirmed all details about the Class-IV employee and said: “Transfers are part of a government servant’s life, but the manner in which this was done is painful. If a Class-IV employee can openly defy the orders of a grade-20 officer, it clearly shows the backing of unseen forces,” he said, adding that annual contract was also terminated for not performing his duty.

He said that even he went to his house as a delegation and tried to talk to his brother, but he did not change his behaviour.The principal said that the real injustice was that physics students, including those of the IT programme, were now left without a physics lecturer. “Ironically, three lecturers on deputation to other districts were sent back to this college, but none of them is from physics. Instead of acknowledging their mistake, some are trying to paint the matter as a potential sectarian clash, which is absolutely false and a malicious conspiracy,” he added.Attempts to contact Deputy Speaker Suraya Bibi for her version were unsuccessful as she did not take the phone calls.