Bids to remove VC underway over land grab crackdown: QAU

Islamabad

The Quaid-i-Azam University has feared the removal of Vice-Chancellor Dr Javed Ashraf over the current crackdown on the illegal occupants of its land and those behind sale of drugs on campus.

“Attempts are underway to force out the VC as efforts against land grabbing and drug pushing in the university have begun to show results,” spokesman Dr Ilhan Niaz told reporters here. The spokesman however said the university was preparing itself for countering the bids of derailing the fight against land grabbers.

Accusing the Higher Education Commission of siding with the university’s ‘disgruntled’ staff members, Dr Ilhan said the vice-chancellor was going to complain against the regulator to the president, prime minister and education minister.

“The vice chancellor is preparing to file complaints with the chancellor (President Mamnoon Hussain), pro-chancellor (federal education and professional training minister Balighur Rehman) and the prime minister (Nawaz Sharif) against this behaviour of the HEC in league with certain disgruntled elements at the QAU who, when they were in the Academic Staff Association and Academic Council and even on the syndicate, did nothing meaningful to oppose the land grab. Instead, they took actions that have directly enabled the current land grab in Kot Hathial, which was reported on October 30, 2016, where the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics was to relocate to under the lease transfer deal,” he said.

The QAU spokesman said on Oct 13, 2016, the VC received a letter from the HEC saying a committee had been formed to look into the alleged maladministration at the QAU. “The committee was given a mandate to finish its work in 15 days. The mandate expired on Oct 28, 2016, but no fresh notification was received from the HEC indicating renewal of the committee’s mandate or extension of its term.

“On Jan 10, 2017, the VC received an email from the defunct committee stating it will be on a fact-finding visit to the QAU next morning. Ironically, the VC did not receive any notice from the chancellor or pro-chancellor between Oct 13, 2016 and Jan 10, 2017 about any inquiry or reference being framed against the QAU administration. All attempts to seek a clarification in this regard didn’t yield result though the VC met the education minister,” he said.

Dr Ilhan said on Jan 11, 2017, the committee reached the QAU but refused to accept the VC’s request to hold the proceedings on record i.e. audio recording. “The VC told the committee that under the Cabinet Division orders, no inquiry against a government officer could be conducted unless the complainants had identified themselves and filed an affidavit declaring their statements to be true. The entire dossier submitted by the HEC along with its email was full of anonymous complaints,” he said.

The QAU spokesman added that though the HEC had no authority to conduct such an inquiry or to send in a team that summoned 20 university staff members for quizzing on the day, Dr Javed Ashraf saw the visitors as he was confident that the complaints filed by those who did not get promotions were false.

“Noted among those who filed complaints against the VC on various matters were Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, Dr. Azhar Abbas Rizvi and Dr. Aqeel Bokhari, who actively opposed the PIDE relocation deal even though they knew that the land in Koth Hatial being offered to the institute at its request was adjacent to the epicentre of the land grabbing at the QAU,” he said.

Dr Ilhan further said the complainants led the campaign against the PIDE relocation deal, which would have secured the QAU from further encroachments in Kot Hathial region.

“Now, the same group together with the HEC has suddenly become active just a couple of days after the CDA officials visited the campus to start the demarcation of its land, and also decided to proceed with the anti-encroachment campaign in and around the university,” he said. The QAU spokesman said the VC was committed to countering the bids of derailing the fight against land grabbers and drug sellers on campus.