FAPUASA to resume protest if demands not met by Oct 11

PESHAWAR: After the directives issued by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor to the Higher Education Department to look into the “illegal action” of the department that triggered protest by university teachers, the Federation of All Pakistan Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) on Friday decided to wait for the government response till October 11.

The Peshawar University Teachers Association (PUTA) on the other hand convened a general body meeting at 11am for Monday to devise future line of action.

A meeting of FAPUASA executive committee was held with its president Dr Humayun in the chair. Provincial president of the body also attended the meeting.

Those in the meeting welcomed the chancellor’s directives to the secretary Higher Education Department to take notice of the “illegal letter and steps” taken by them. The governor in his letter also directed the secretary education to resolve the issue at the earliest so that classes in the University of Peshawar could resume and the time of students could be saved.

The FAPUASA had earlier decided to extend the class-boycott and protest to other universities from Monday next. However, Friday’s meeting decided to hold a meeting on October 6 to assess developments and devise future line of action.

The participants of the meeting hoped the issue would be resolved before October 11 or else they would launch protest campaign across the province.

PUTA President Dr Jamil Chitrali on the other hand told The News that in view of the recent developments like the FAPUASA leadership’s meeting with governor and speakers, governor’s letter to Higher Education Department, they decided to hold a general body meeting of the association on Monday to discuss the situation and work out future strategy.

He said the strike was launched as per the decision of the association’s general body and only it could call it off or otherwise. The PUTA president condemned the fake letter issued by some outlawed elements on social media on PUTA letterhead with his fake signature. He said that he had got registered a police case against the unknown perpetrators under cybercrime law.

He said the fake letter was a conspiracy to tarnish his image and weaken their strike. But such mean and criminal acts would not affect their commitment for protection of the rights of the university teachers, he added.

The teaching fraternity of the University of Peshawar has been on strike for the last five days. They have also observed class-boycott for five days to capture the government’s attention towards their just demands.

But the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government kept a complete mum over the development and didn’t bother to even contact the protesting teachers and listen to them, let alone accepting their demands.