Varsities’ body warns of strike if KUTS’ demands not met by August 30

One key demand is the immediate removal of the finance director of Karachi University

Karachi

To support the demands of the Karachi University Teachers Society (KUTS), the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA), Sindh Chapter, has announced observing a one-day strike in universities if the demands of the teacher’s association are not met by August 30.

As per a KUTS statement issued on Thursday, one of their central demands is the immediate removal of the director finance of the University of Karachi.

The KUTS held its “Emergency General Body” meeting which was also attended by the representatives of six public sector universities including the Sindh University (SU), the NED University of Engineering and Technology, the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET), the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS), the Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) and the Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering and Technology (QAUET).

Teachers from the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University (SBBU), Nawabshah, also attended the meeting.

The statement issued by the general body said: “The KU director finance since his appointment gradually caused an irreparable damage, not only to the assets of the university but also the higher education and research. He tried to run the office with an illegitimate staffer and his attitude towards the senior teachers of the university was humiliating.

“The house demanded of the Sindh Government to start issuing annual grants to the universities in Sindh, in particular release the grant to the KU and allow a one-time bailout package for the university.”

The statement further read: “The house urged the KU vice-chancellor to disregard any pressure and pay the annual leave encashment to the teachers in accordance with the statutory law of the University of Karachi. The house also demanded of the HEC to increase the annual grant of the University of Karachi with respect.”

The meeting unanimously resolved that if the legitimate demands of the general body would not be accepted, all teachers and other staffers in the KU will join hands to march to the Chief Minister House and a sit-in would staged over there.

The house was addressed by Dr Shahnawaz Talpur, president FAPUASA-Sindh and MUET, Dr Arfana Mallah, Dr Naimatullah Laghari, Dr Suhail Alamani, and Dr Aslam Pervez Memon.

As per the statement, these representatives assured the KUTS to extend full support.

Dr Shahnawaz Talpur said that a FAPUASA-Sindh meeting was being called in Jamshoro next week to decide the course of action.

Dr Arfana Mallah said that all universities in Sindh were facing more or less similar problems but depriving the KU faculty of leave encashment was illegal, whereas all the universities in Sindh were paying leave-encashment.

Dr Naimatullah Laghari said that all the public sector universities in Sindh were on one page and already campaigning against the attempts made by the government to undermine the autonomous status of the universities.

Dr Aslam Pervez Memon stressed that since all the universities in Sindh were sharing similar problems, therefore the unity and joint efforts by the teachers’ association was inevitable.

Dr Shakeel Farooqi, who is also the FAPUASA-Sindh secretary general, said the financial blues of the university could not be washed away unless revenues generated by the university were maintained separately from the government grants.

He stressed that both the HEC and the Sindh government should increase the grant of the University of Karachi and make the payments in timely manner.

Dr Farooqi said that the leave-encashment for teachers was a statutory law of the university and no other institutions, including NAB, had any right to question it.